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CHRIST'S    HEADSHIP   OF    THE    CHUR 
ACCORDING   TO    ANABAPTIST    LEADER$: 
WHOSE  FOLLOWERS  BECAME  MENNONITE^ 


J.  H.  LANGENW ALTER 


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CHRIST^S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 
ACCORDING  TO  ANABAPTIST 

LEADERS 

WHOSE  FOLLOWERS  BECAME 

MENNONITES 


<^ 


CHRIST'S    HEADSHIP 

OF  THE 

CHURCH 


ACCORDING  TO  ANABAPTIST 
LEADERS 

WHOSE  FOLLOWERS  BECAME 
MENNONITES 


J.  H.  LANGEXWALTER 
PresidenV  of  Bethel  College 

Erstwhile  Dean  of 
Mennonite  Seminary 


MENNONITE  BOOK  CONCERN 

Berne,  Indiana 

1922 


As 


Copyright,    1917 
By  J.  H.  LANGENWALTER 


%4^ 


WITNESS   PRESS, 
Berne,  Ind. 


THIS  WORK  IS  LOVINGLY  DEDI- 
CATED TO  MY  WIFE  WHOSE  LOY- 
AL   DEVOTION    HAS    MADE    ITS 
PRODUCTION  POSSIBLE 


^1-  o  o  o  o  -^ 


PREFACE 

When  this  work  was  at  first  undertaken  the  question  of 
its  publication  was  practically  foreign  to  the  mind  of  the 
author.  Even  now  he  feels  that  to  make  it  most  valuable  to 
the  average  reader  a  careful  rewriting  would  be  advantageous. 
Much  material  was  laid  aside  which  ought  to  appear  for  the 
benefit  of  those  who  have  not  entered  deeply  into  a  study  of 
Mennonite  History.  On  the  other  hand  it  has  been  frequently 
urged  that  the  material  found  in  this  work  should  be  made 
available  for  the  use,  especially  of  the  young  people,  even  in 
its  present  form  and  therefore  the  author  has  consented  to 
have  this  child  of  his  thinking  to  go  out  into  the  world  to 
perform  whatever  work  our  Father  in  heaven  may  find  for 
it.  It  is  not  without  misgivings  that  this  permission  has  been 
granted;  it  is,  however,  with  the  hope  that  those,  who  shall 
peruse  its  pages  with  care,  may  catch  some  of  the  same  spirit 
of  our  forefathers,  which  has  increasingly  impressed  the 
author  and  has  made  him  want  to  make  a  contribution  worthy 
of  their  memory. 

Where  this  book  is  to  be  used  as  a  text  or  reference  book 
in  Young  People's  meetings  it  will  be  found  desirable  to 
consult  freely  some  of  the  more  general  books  on  Mennonite 
History  found  listed  in  the  Bibliography. 

The  biographies  in  Chapter  III  may  prove  valuable  for 
use  in  attempting  to  become  acquainted  with  the  kind  of  lead- 
ership which  made  possible  the  valuable  contribution  of  the 
Anabaptists  and  may  prove  to  be  the  most  usable  material  for 
Christian  Endeavor  or  other  Young  People's  classes.  If 
this  chapter,  or  any  other  portion  of  the  book,  should  prove 
to  be  a  source  of  inspiration  to  the  young  people  of  our 
churches,  then  the  author  will  feel  repaid  for  the  labor  which 
was  necessary  for  the  production  of  this  Vr'ork. 

J.  H.  LAXGEXWALTER. 
Bluffton,  Ohio,  March  20,  1917. 


FOREWORD  TO  SCHOOL  EDITION 

This  hook  was  the  result  of  research  work  done  for  the 
most  parr  at  Hartford  Theological  Seminary.  It  was  first  pub- 
lished in  1917  and  is  now  re-issued  with  a  few  changes  in  the 
forepart  of  the  book.  As  a  bit  of  research  work  it  is  better 
adapted  to  schools  than  to  the  general  public. 

The  subject  matter  is  of  special  interest  during  this 
period  of  reconstruction  when  the  value  of  the  human  element 
in  any  problem  is  again  coming  into  its  own,  especially  as  it 
concerns  convictions  of  far  reaching  import  to  human  society. 

The  author  grateiuUy  acknowledges  the  help  of  many 
friends  both  in  the  production  of  the  work  and  in  the  distri- 
bution of  this  edition  among  the  institutions  of  higher  edu- 
cation in  the  United  States  of  America. 

J.  H.  LANGEN WALTER. 
Bethel  College,  Newton.  Kansas.  March  1922. 


CONTENTS 


Page 

I-NTRODUCTION    3 

CHAPTER  I— A  Survey  of  the  Times  and  Conditions  in 

Which  the  Mennonitc  Church  Was  Born 7 

CHAPTER  II— Characteristics  of  Anabaptists  24 

-  The  Spread  of  the  Movement  24 

'  The  Kind  of  People  Who  Joined  It  25 

Their  Earliest  Confession  of  Faith 28 

""Their  Hymns 31 

Their  Emphasis  on  Life  32 

Their  Use  of  the  Bible 32 

*  Their  Relation   to  the   Miinster   Movement  35 

Their  Loss  of  Leaders  Through  Persecutions  38 

•  Education    - 39 

Their  Attitude   Toward   Persecution   39 

CHAPTER   III — Representative  Leaders    of    the    Ana- 
baptists and  Early  Mennonites  42 

Hans    Denck    43 

Michael    Sattler   55 

Ludwig  Haetzer  (Hetzer)  58 

Melchior  Hoffmann  60 

Konrad   Grebel    67 

Felix  Manz  69 

Georg  Blaurock 70 

Wi.lhelm    Reublin ? 72 

Pilgram   Harbeck   T^ 

Dr.   Balthasar   Hubmaier  - 74 

Eitel  Hans  Langenmantel  80 

Dirk  and   Obbe   Philipps  82 

Gillis  von  Aachen  84 

Leonert    Bouvens 85 

Menno  Simon  87 

CHAPTER  IV— Ways  in    Which    the    Conceptions    of.... 
These  Leaders  Regarding  Christ's  Headship  of 

the  Church  Found  Expression  97 

A.     Conceptions    of    Anabaptist    Leaders    Regarding 

Christ's    Person    101 


CONTENTS 

Page 

B.  Conceptions    of    Anabaptist    Leaders    Regarding 
Christ's  Work  118 

C.  Conceptions  of  Anabaptist  and  Early  .Mennonite 
Leaders   Regarding   the   Church   139 

The  Community  of  Saints  on  Earth  143 

The  Apostolic  Church  as  a  Model  146 

Cat!  a  Person    Be    a    Member    of    an    Organization 
Called  a  Church  When  He    Gives    No    Evidence 
of    Being   a    Conscientious    Follower   of   Christ?  148 
What  Is  the  Value  of  ''Sacraments"  and  Ceremonies?  152 

Who  Shall  Be  Ministers  of  the  Church? 155 

The  Man 156 

His  Qualifications  157 

His   Duties   ^ 158 

The  Use  of  the  "Ban"  158 

The  Christian  and  Civ\\  Authority 161 

The  Work  of  the  Magistracy 161 

Oaths    162 

War 10.  162.  166 

The  State  and  the  Church  165 

APPENDIX   I— Die  siebcn  Artikcl  von    Schlattcn    am 

Randen  169 

APPENDIX  II— Wiedertaufer  Artikel  vom  Jahr  1527, 
zusammengestcUt  nach  den  Bekcnntnisscn  dcr 
1527-28  in  der  Stadt  Steyer  verhorten  Wieder- 
taufer aus  der  Brudcrschaft  des  Hans  Hut 173 

APPENDIX  III— Persecutions  and  the  Persecuted  174 

Estimates   of    175 

Lindsay    175 

Mueller   175 

Zurkinden , 175 

Kessler  176 

Schwenkfeld 176 

APPENDIX  IV— Von  der  Wiederaufrichtung  und  Ver- 

sUhnung  des  menschlichen  Geschlechts  mit  Gott  177 
APPENDIX  V — Von  der  Zukunft  unseres  Erlosers  und 

Seligmachers,  Jesu   Christi  178 

BIBLIOGRAPHY    181 


INTRODUCTION 

The  movement,  known  as  Anabaptism,  affords  a 
rich  field  for  speculation  because  of  the  fact  that  it 
eaiine  into  such  prominence  during  the  Reformation 
period ;  because  so  many  divisions,  sects  and  denom- 
inations either  grew  out  of  it  or  came  thru  it  and  be- 
cause of  the  nature  of  the  sources  upon  which  we  are 
dependent  for  our  information. 

Anabaptism  was  not  an  organized  movement  in 
any  strict  sense.  It  was  a  mass  movement  which 
made  its  appearance  over  the  greater  part  of  western 
Europe.  Just  when  it  began  is  a  much  mooted  ques- 
tion. That  there  are  traces  of  "a  church  within  the 
Church"  will  hardly  be  denied  by  anyone  today.  That, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  can  be  satisfactorily  proven  that 
there  is  a  direct  connection  between  such  early  mani- 
festations of  conscious  or  unconscious  dissatisfaction 
with  the  established  Church  and  any  one  of  the  de- 
nominations whhch  have  grown  up  since  the  Reforma- 
tion, is  still  a  much  debated  question.  Men  have  writ- 
ten on  both  sides  of  the  question  and,  after  reading 
many  of  their  arguments,  one  feels  that  their  conclu- 
sions are  frequently  but  the  reflections  of  that  which 
they  had  hoped  might  be  true.     The  nature  of  the 


4  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHiURCH 

sources  tmakes  any  undeniable  proof  either  way  almost 
impossible. 

The  question  is  interesting,  and  even  fascinating, 
but  it  is  not  of  vital  importance  to  the  present  under- 
taking. The  writer  takes  this  position  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  nearly  all  of  the  writers  on  the  history  of  the 
Mennonites  have  considered  the  question  of  ithe  origin 
of  the  denomination  of  prime  importance. 

The  writer  has  culled  his  material  from  available 
reports,  minutes,  letters,  etc.,  of  civil  authorities;  from 
the  literature  produced  by  enemies  of  the  Anabaptists 
and  from  the  meager  literature  left  by  members  of  the 
movement.  These  sources  were  often  produced  in  the 
heat  of  controversy  or  under  the  stress  of  torture  and 
it  was  therefore  necessary  to  weigh  them  carefully. 
Much  of  that  which  was  left  by  Anabaptists  and  early 
Mennonites  is  simply  literature  and  not  in  any  sense 
a  S'chematic  presentation  of  their  beliefs.  This  fact 
has  made  it  necessary  to  get  at  the  proibable  position 
of  these  people  on  the  question  of  Christ's  Headship 
of  the  Church  thru  their  lives  rather  than  the  things 
which  they  are  reported  to  have  said.  This  accounts 
for  the  space  alloted  in  this  thesis  to  biographical 
sketches  of  leaders.  This  seems  justifiable  under  the 
circumstances  because  so  many  of  the  quotations  of 
things  said,  or  supposed  to  have  been  said,  were  con- 
ditioned upon  character  and  historical  event. 

The  method   of  procedure   is   somewhat   unusual 


INTRODUCTION  5 

when  one  considers  the  nature  of  the  subject  of  this 
thesis,  but  it  seemed  increasingly,  to  the  writer,  to  be 
the  best  way  of  getting  a  correct  estimate  of  the  prob- 
able thinking  of  the  leaders  under  discussion. 

Much  that  has  been  written  concerning  the  Men- 
nonites  has  been  in  the  nature  of  argument  for  the  or- 
ganization. The  writer  jlias  aimed  rather  to  emphasize 
the  fundamental  principles,  held  by  the  Anabaptists 
and  earl)^  Mennonite  leaders,  which  are  of  value  to 
Christianity  as  a  whole  and  he  hopes  that  the  large 
possiibilities  in  this  direction  may  be  worthily  devel- 
oped iby  able  writers  in  the  near  future. 


CHAPTER  I 

A  SURVEY  OF  THE  TIMES  AND  CONDITIONS 

IN  WHICH  THE  MENNONITE  CHURCH 

WAS  BORN 

The  name  Mennonites  comes  from  one  of  their 
leaders,  Menno  Simon,  and  was  given  to  a  portion  of 
the  movement  by  its  enemies,  Menno  Simon  was  in 
no  strkt  sense  the  founder  of  the  movement  which 
bore  his  name  in  certain  sections  of  western  Europe 
even  before  it  was  crystallized  into  the  denomination. 

The  Mennonites  sprang-  from  that  more  or  less  in- 
definite movement  known  in  history  as  Anabaptism. 
There  are  those  who  would  like  to  prove  that  there  is 
a  direct  lineal  and  spiritual  connection  between  the 
Mennonites  and  the  Waldenses  and  earlier  moveiments 
of  the  same  general  type.  However,  strongly  as  such 
a  succession  appeals  to  many,  Dr.  C.  Henry  Smith  is 
probably  correct  in  saying  that  it  is  "only  a  beautiful 
theory."  That  there  are  certain  strong  resemblances, 
especially  as  regards  the  attitude  toward  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  the  civil  authorities,  the  emphasis 
upon  consistent  living,  and  particularly  the  desire  to 
returii  to  the  practices  of  the  Apostolic  Church,  is  true, 
but  the  estimate  of  Dr.  Rufus  M.  Jones  seems  to  the 


8  CKRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

present  writer  as  both  correct  and  pertinent  when  he 
writes:  '*It  cannot  be  absolutely  established  that  the 
Anabaptists  were  decendants  of  the  earlier  mystical 
movements.  What  we  actually  know  is  that  there 
suddenly  appeared  just  at  the  dawn  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, in  almost  every  Christian  country,  little  groups 
of  men  and  women,  who  were  detenmined  to  recon- 
struct Christianity  after  the  New  Testament  model, 
who  were  bent  on  reviving  primdtive  Christianity/* 
(Studies  in  Mystical  Religion,  p.  370). 

It  was  very  natural  that  such  a  free,  intense  type 
of  Christianity  should  'break  forth  with  the  Reforma- 
tion, and  it  was  also  natural  that  when  this  movement 
attained  the  proportions  iwhiich  it  very  naturally  at- 
tained during  such  times  of  religious,  social,  commer- 
cial and  political  reconstructions  as  we  find  during  the 
first  part  of  the  16th  century,  that  there  should  be 
many  eddies  in  the  swollen  stream  of  human  develop- 
ment. When  one  takes  into  consideration  the  far- 
reaching  influences  of  such  inventions  as  that  of  gun- 
powder and  of  printing;  the  mal-adjustments  which 
naturally  followed  between  civil  and  ecclesiastical  au- 
thoritiies  because  of  the  Church's  ambitions  to  control 
governmental  as  well  as  spiritual  affairs ;  tlie  effects 
of  Humanism  and  the  terrible  oppressions  of  the  poor, 
one  does  not  wonder  that  early  decades  of  the  16th 
century  found  western  Europe  confronted  with  a  con- 
dition of  social,  political  and  religious  unrest  which 


SURVEY  OF  THE  TIMES  9 

was  fraught  both  \viith  unprecedented  opportunities 
and  with  grave  dangers.  Neither  does  one  wonder 
that  those  who  have  studied  that  situation  within  re- 
cent years  should  differ  so  widely  in  their  conclusions 
as  to  the  causes  which  led  to  such  a  condition  of  affairs. 
When  men  like  Karl  Kautsky  (Communism  in  Central 
Europe  in  the  Time  of  the  Reformation)  and  E.  Bel- 
fort  Bax  (The  Peasants'  War)  undertake  a  study  of 
the  situation,  one  would  naturally  expect  to  find  them 
emphasizing  the  social  element.  The  same  is  true  on 
the  religious  side  of  those  writers  who  have  set  out  to 
find  the  causes  for  that  period  of  unrest  from  the  angle 
of  Church  History.  These  may  at  times  be  tempted  to 
under-emphasize  the  points  which  the  others,  to  them, 
seem  to  have  over-emphasized.  This  fact  also  accounts 
for  the  differences  of  opinion  which  prevail  regarding 
various  leading  men  of  the  Reformation  period  and 
the  widely  varying  conclusions  concerning  the  rela- 
tions of  different  groups  to  each  other.  The  present 
writer  feels  that  such  a  situation  calls  for  a  patient 
seeking  to  live  one's  self  into  conditions  of  the  Refor- 
mation period  rather  than  for  the  spirit  of  controversy, 
no  matter  what  may  be  the  phase  of  the  situation  in 
which  one  is  especially  interested.  That  period  was 
one  of  intense  feeling  and  activity  under  high  pressure. 
Entire  classes  of  men,  who  for  centuries  had  seen  few 
changes,  were  suddenly  thrust  into  situations  calling 
for  great  and   sudden   readjustments.     The   situation 


10         CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

was  kaleidascopic  and  therefore  confusiag.  Men  were 
shaken  up  in  their  entire  thinking  and  consequently 
did  not  react  in  only  one  phase  of  their  thinking. 
Hence  it  seems  pre|>osteroiis  to  attempt  to  establish 
in  which  one  phase  of  men^s  mental  processes  are  to 
be  found  the  causes  for  conditions  as  we  find  them 
during  the  Reformation  period.  The  writer  has  found 
this  fact  of  increasing  signifiance  as  he  has  tried  to 
glean  that  which  men  may  have  thot  during  that 
period  of  stress  on  the  significance  of  Christ  as  the 
Head  of  the  Church. 

The  invention  of  gun-powder  imade  the  fortresses 
of  feudal  lords  of  little  value  but  it  also  took  from  the 
poor  classes  the  ability  to  fight  for  themselves.  It 
materially  aflPected  the  conditions  of  the  laborers  and 
the  merchants  and  it  intensified  the  question  of  the 
relationship  between  Christianity  and  war.  The  in- 
vention of  printing  stimulated  education,  gave  litera- 
ture to  the  poor  and  oppressed  so  that  they  came  to 
think,  and  consequently  to  act,  more  independently; 
it  gave  men  the  Bible  and  thus  a  greater  opportunity 
to  gain  a  clear  conception  of  Christianity,  but  it  also 
gave  to  the  enemies  of  the  poor  and  oppressed  and  of 
those  who  sought  religion  pure  and  undefiled  a  lever- 
age which  they  had  not  had  before,  as  is  clearly  seen 
from  the  fact  that  for  centuries  our  histories  have  been 
patterned  after  the  literature  of  the  oppressors  and  the 
persecutors  and  that  today  we  have  to  face  the  solu- 


SURVEY  OF  THE  TIMES  11 

tion  of  the  almost  insurmountable  difficulties  of  find- 
ing out  what  really  were  the  facts.  The  spread  of 
Humanism  caused  the  emphasis  to  be  placed  on  the 
individual  rather  than  the  organization  and  dad  much 
to  bring  about  a  better  condition  of  affairs  for  large 
masses  of  people,  but  it  also  tcaused  weaker  minds  and 
crushed  spirits  to  react  in  ways  which  often  proved 
unwholesome  for  the  general  welfare ;  it  made  men 
free  from  tradition  and  made  thom  see  that  the  primi- 
tive gospel  message  dealt  with  life  and  action  rather 
than  organization  and  theological  conclusions,  but  it 
also  made  some  men,  unprepared  to  see  the  difference 
between  li'berty  and  license  make  demands  and  under- 
take steps  which  brought  dire  limitations  upon  the 
freedom  which  had  been,  perhaps,  all  but  gained.  This 
is  true,  e.  g.  of  the  Peasants'  War  and  of  the  "Kingdom 
of  Miinster".  These  two  instances  suggest,  as  is  so 
often  the  case,  that  the  causes  were  complex.  Both 
social  and  religions  factors  enter  into  the  problem 
raised  by  these  instances.  The  "Twelve  Articles"  of 
the  "Peasants"  have  a  religious  stamp.  Religious  lead- 
ers gave  them  their  approval.  This  was  true  even  of 
Luther  (Brons,  Ursprung.  Entwickelung  und  Schick- 
sale  der  altevangelischen  Taufgesinnten,  p.  3).  And 
the  "Articles"  were  so  framed  and  so  presented  by  the 
leaders  of  the  "Peasants"  as  to  stand  or  fall  with  the 
Bible.  This  fact  needs  to  be  taken  into  consideration 
when  one  enumerates  the  causes  Avhicli  are  supposed 


12         CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

to  have  led  to  this  uprising  of  the  "Peasants".  Their 
oppressions  beggar  desicription ;  the  frauds  which  were 
perpetrated  against  them  were  enough  to  arouse  the 
resentment  of  any  one  who  was  not  closed  to  all  sense 
of  huiman  justice  or  hopelessly  browbeaten;  the  in- 
fringements on  the  natural  human  rights  of  these  peo- 
ple were  often  such  as  to  make  hatred,  in  its  bitterest 
forms,  seem  almost  like  the  most  natural  reaction,  and 
the  breaches  of  promiise  on  the  part  of  their  masters 
and  rulers  were  so  frequent  and  so  heinous  that  'con- 
fidence must  needs  be  lost,  and  yet  these  social  condi- 
tions were  not  the  only  causes.  Even  among  those 
who  took  a  direct  part  in  the  Peasants'  War  there  was 
a  strata  of  religious  feeling  which  helped  to  make  that 
war  what  it  was.  This  religious  factor  made  for  justice 
in  the  demands  of  the  ''Peasants"  and  prolonged  the 
time  of  the  outbreak  on  the  one  hand  and  intensified 
the  breach,  when  it  came,  on  the  other  hand.  (See 
Ersch  and  Gra'ber,  Bauernkrieg,  p.  182,  for  "Twelve 
Articles"  and  also  Bax,  Peasants'  War,  pp.  63-75,  for 
copy  of  complete  text  of  these  Articles.)  This  indicates 
how  the  Miinster  uprising  and  kindred  disturbances 
should  be  related  to  the  movement  among  the  "Peas- 
ants". Whatever  direct  interplay  there  may  have  been 
between  the  Miinster  uprising  and  any  one  or  more 
of  the  many  revolts  among  the  "Peasants"  was  prob- 
ably accidental  rather  than  premeditated.  Both  were  re- 
actions against  intolerable  oppressions.    In  the  one  the 


SURVEY  OF  THE  TIMES  13 

social  aspect  shows  up  more  prominently  and  in  the 
other  religious,  but  in  both  there  are  traces  of  the 
social  and  the  religious  elements.  The  Munster  move- 
ment no  doubt  mtensiitied  the  spirit  of  resistance 
among  the  oppressed  and  in  so  far  helped  to  aggravate 
the  trouble  which  the  rulers  had  with  the  "Peasants," 
but  there  lis  no  conclusive  evidence  that  there  was  any 
systematic  co-operation  between  the  two  movements. 
The  Miinsterites  used  the  methods  which  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  had  taught  them  thru  practices,  and 
used  them  as  oppressed  people  usually  use  such  meth- 
ods when  they  come  into  power  suddenly.  While  the 
leaders  of  this  movement  held  to  some  of  the  principles 
of  the  Anabaptists,  they  also  differed  widely  from 
them  on  others  and  certainly  stood  in  no  recognized 
organic  relationship  with  the  Anabaptists  who  were 
merged  into  that  portion  of  the  movement  later  called 
Mennonites.  Furthermore,  the  attitude  of  prominent 
Anabaptists  toward  the  Miinster  movement  shows 
that  the  Miinsterites  could  not  have  allied  themselves 
closely  with  the  Ana'baptists  unless  they  would  have 
changed  their  theories  and  practices  so  materially  as 
to  have  made  impossible  the  historic  Munster  scandal. 
In  this  connection  it  is  well  to  consider  briefly 
that  Miinzer,  had  been  a  Lutheran  pastor  and  that 
he  had  held  his  pastorate  with  the  consent  of  Luther. 
He  was  a  restless  spirit.  His  education  made  him 
all  the  more  dangerous  when  he  once  set  out  in  the 


14         CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

work  which  has  made  hitii  notorious.  He  denounc- 
ed the  clergy  of  the  Roman  Catholic  and  also  of  the 
Lutheran  churches.  In  this  he  is  comparable  to  many 
of  the  Anabaptist  leaders,  but  their  methods  of  pro- 
cedure were  very  different.  So  long  as  he  confin- 
ed his  denunciations  to  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy 
he  was  welcome  to  remain  in  his  pastorate,  but  when 
he  turned  the  same  weapons  against  similar  sins  in 
the  ranks  of  the  Lutheran  clergy,  his  days  were  count- 
ed. This  opposition  provoked  his  fiery  spirit  to  all 
kinds  of  excesses.  He  became  unreasonably  icono- 
xlastic  considered  himself  a  prophet  sent  from  God, 
held  his  inspiration  to  be  higher  in  authority  than  the 
Bible  and  engaged  in  other  similar  extravagances. 
There  were  enough  similarities  between  the  things^ 
he  preached  and  the  beliefs  of  the  peaceful  Anabap- 
tists to  confuse  even  some  of  their  members,  but  he 
was  never  a  recognized  Anabaptist. 

It  is  also  noteworthy  that  the  Munsterites  were 
made  up  of  members  of  the  various  established 
churches  as  well  as  of  the  Anabaptists.  This  fact 
gives  weight  to  the  argument  of  those  who  would 
make  it  appear  that  it  was  exclusively  a  social  move- 
ment, which  was  merely  intensified  >by  religious  fan- 
aticism. There  is  no  doubt  that  religious  fervor  entered 
into  this  uprising  very  materiallv.  The  study  of  the 
Bible  showed  one  of  its  first  effects  in  this  tragic  event 
and  one  need  not  wonder  that  superficial  students  of 


SURVEY  OF  THE  TIMES  15 

this  period  sometimes  hastily  conclude  that  it  had  been 
better  to  have  withheld  the  Bible  from  the  hands  of 
the  common  people,  when  they  see  how  its  use  influ- 
enced the  leaders  of  the  "Miinster  Kingdom".  One 
must  not  forget,  however,  that  without  the  fearful 
oppressions  which  they  endured,  these  same  people 
doubtlessly  might  have  become  peaceful  members  of 
society  similar  to  those  which  the  study  of  the  Bible 
made  elsewhere,  where  the  weight  of  oppression  had 
not  quite  so  nearly  reached  the  crushing  point.  The 
Miinster  leaders  turned  to  the  Old  Testament  rather 
than  to  the  New  because  they  had  been  reduced  to  a 
condition  where  primitive  conceptions  of  righteous- 
ness and  the  idea  of  self-preservation  alone  were  left, 
and  these  two  combined  by  the  force  of  bitter  expe- 
riences and  the  examples  found  in  the  Old  Testament 
of  how  the  God  of  Israel  had  meted  out  justice  to  the 
wicked  oppressors  of  old,  naturally  made  these  men 
feel  that  there  should  be  a  return  to  such  measures  in 
order  that  present  oppressors  might  be  dealt  with  as 
they  deserved. 

The  same  conditions  made  it  natural  for  them  to 
turn  to  the  Chiliastic  literature  of  the  Bible.  Condi- 
tions were  so  bad  that  there  seemed  to  be  no  hope  for 
their  betterment  except  in  a  cataclysmic  event  such  as 
the  Apocalyptic  literature  of  the  Bible  foreshadowed. 
The  danger  of  invasion  on  the  part  of  the  Turks  made 
the  early  occurrence  of  such  an  event  seem  all  the 


16  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

more  probable  and  it  was  therefore  not  at  all  surpris- 
ing to  find  that,  in  the  heat  of  intense  fervor,  born  of 
hatred  resulting  from  bitter  oppression  and  of  the  hope 
of  early  relief,  men  are  reported  to  have  said  that  they 
would  support  the  Turks  when  they  came. 

This  period  was  necessarily  one  in  which  one  would 
expect  to  find  many  things  occurring  which,  at  the 
first  glance  appear  like  the  grossest  kind  of  inconsist- 
ency. A  closer  view  makes  it  appear  that  some  of 
them  were  not  fundamentally  inconsistent  and  that 
many  more  of  them  were  inconsistencies  which  grew 
out  of  conditions  not  under  the  control  of  those  who 
were  the  perpetrators  of  these  acts.  A  careful  consid- 
eration of  this  fact  will  make  it  easier  to  deal  justly 
with  the  leaders  of  all  movements  which  played  a 
prominent  part  during  the  first  half  of  the  16th  cen- 
tury. 

The  conditions  of  the  time  in  question  also  gave  an 
opportunity  to  adventurous  spirits,  and  these  were  not 
lacking.  They  confused  the  situation  and  sometimes 
the  leaders  who  were  honestly  endeavoring  to  put  mat- 
ters aright.  These  facts,  no  doubt,  account  for  many 
of  the  difficulties  of  such  men  as  Luther  and  Zwingli. 
They  have  both  been  charged  with  gross  inconsisten- 
cies for  which  their  friends  have  found  various  excuses 
and  on  account  of  which  their  enemies  have  all  too 
often  manifested  a  kind  of  "Schadenfreude".  This  is 
not  as  it  should  be.    We  need  a  broader  outlook  upon 


SURVEY  OF  THE  TIMES  17 

the  times  and  the  men  of  the  Reformation  Period  if 
we  are  to  learn  from  that  significant  incident  in  history 
the  lessons  which  the  same  is  capable  of  imparting. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  Luther  should,  as  some  one 
has  said,  have  succeeded  in  lighting  the  inflammable 
material  which  had  been  prepared  thru  the  occurences 
before  the  beginning  of  his  public  work,  without  seeing 
the  consequences  of  his  action  clearly.  He  evidently 
felt  that  this  was  the  case,  for  he  compares  himself  to 
a  blind  horse  being  led  up  a  hill.  Such  a  frame  of  mind 
is,  however,  not  a  reflection  upon  his  character,  or  a 
just  cause  for  denouncing  his  work  as  a  whole. 

Luther  had  the  misfortune  of  being  a  popular  leader 
at  a  time  of  great  transition  and  it  is  not  surprising 
that  he  could  not  meet  the  expectations  of  any  one 
of  the  many  exponents  of  the  many  trends  of  thot 
prevailing  at  that  time.  Naturally  enough  everyone 
of  these  expected  Luther  to  emphasize  those  points  of 
conflict  dearest  to  the  exponents,  and  many  of  them 
were  bitterly  disappointed.  Giving  vent  to  this  dis- 
appointment was  no  encouragement  to  sweetness  of 
temper  to  a  man  of  Luther's  constitution,  especially 
when  the  pressure  of  the  results  of  the  affairs  which  he 
had  helped  to  bring  about  began  to  weigh  heavily  upon 
him.  It  is  therefore  necessary,  as  Stevens  says,  in  con- 
nection with  some  of  Luther's  controversies:  "In  ci- 
ting the  opinions  of  Luther,  some  allowance  must 
doubtless  be  made  for  his  vehemence  and  his  rhetor- 


18  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

ical  extravagance."  The  present  writer  has  no  interest 
in  glossing  over  the  errors  or  inconsistencies  of  Luth- 
er, but  a  sense  of  fair  play  makes  him  feel  that  one- 
sided criticism  is  so  dangerous  a  thing  that  one  may 
well  ward  off  the  danger  by  entering  sympathetically 
into  the  psychological  workings  and  problems  of  a 
man  with  whom  one  cannot  agree  on  many  points,  and 
it  is  with  an  appeal  to  the  same  sense  of  fair  play  that 
the  writer  suggests  that  it  would  be  well  to  make  some 
allowances  for  the  kind  of  replies  which  Luther's  "ve- 
hemence and  rhetorical  extravagance"  evoked  from 
those  who  were  compelled  by  force  of  circumstance  to 
deal  with  Luther  in  matters  which  were  of  first  im- 
portance to  them  and  who  often  quailed  under  his  "ve- 
hemence and  rhetorical  extravagance"  to  such  an  ex- 
tent that  they  either  severed  their  relations  with  him 
or  repaid  him  in  his  own  coin. 

Luther  was  human  and  it  may  not  be  impossible 
that  he  had,  as  Brons  says  (Ursprung,  Entwickelung 
und  Schicksale  usw.  p.  391)  :  "Become  so  used  to  hav- 
ing people  look  to  him  that  he  could  not  endure  other 
leaders  by  his  side."  This  may  account  for  some  of 
his  vehemence  and  may  also  have  been  the  reason  why 
others  were  provoked  to  similar  means  of  expressing 
themselves. 

There  was  about  Luther  a  conservatism  which  was 
rather  remarkable  in  some  of  its  aspects.  It  made  him 
a  man  of  unusual  self-possession.    This  becomes  espe- 


SURVEY  OF  THE  TIMES  19 

cially  apparent  when  one  thinks  of  Luther's  tempera- 
ment and  the  times  in  which  he  lived.  He  did  not  fully 
break  with  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  for  ten  years 
after  his  declaration  at  Wittenberg,  for  we  find  that 
two  Franciscan  monks  and  two  Evangelical  preachers 
preached  alternately  in  the  Great  Church  (Grossen 
Kirche)  at  Emden  and  in  the  Franciscan  cloister  ten 
years  after  Luther  is  usually  thot  to  have  severed 
all  connections  with  the  Roman  Church.  This  could 
hardly  have  occurred  if  Luther  had  been  as  radical  as 
he  has  sometimes  been  portrayed  and  it  also  suggests 
why  Luther  was  inclined  to  be  impatient  with  and 
even  intolerant  toward  those  who  were  not  willing  or 
able  to  accommodate  themselves  as  readily  as  he  to 
things  of  an  established  order,  especially  when  the 
time  came  that  the  established  order  was  of  his  order- 
ing. 

As  we  shall  see  in  succeeding  chapters,  there  were 
many  who  were  keenly  disappointed  by  Luther's  con- 
servatism and  felt  that  he  had  not  carried  the  Reforma- 
tion far  enough.  Most  of  these,  in  the  heat  of  the  con- 
troversy, seem  to  have  blamed  him  with  unwillingness 
or  arbitrariness  in  the  matter ;  others  have  suggested 
that  it  was  sheer  inability  to  do  the  constructive  work 
necessary  to  carry  the  Reformation  to  a  consistent 
conclusion,  e.  g.  Bax  says :  "Luther  had  known  how 
to  pull  down  an  old  house  but  not  how  to  build  up  a 
new  one."  (The  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Anabaptists,  p.  3.) 


20  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

Is  it  not  possible  that  these  intimations  aim  at  secon- 
dary causes  and  that  the  prime  cause  was  Luther's 
conservatism?  Unless  we  overestimate  Luther's  con- 
servatism, it  made  him  unwilling  to  go  farther  than  he 
felt  sure  that  things  would  work  out  well.  Whatever 
ma.y  have  been  the  primary  cause  or  causes,  the  fact 
that  Luther  did  act  cautiously  and  showed  intolerant 
impatience  with  those  who  did  not  so  act,  in  his  esti- 
mation, led  to  endless  misunderstandings  and  divi- 
sions. Luther's  earlier  expressions  had  led  people  to 
expect  him  to  go  farther  than  his  conservatism  allowed 
him  to  go  after  the  movement  had  been  fairly  started. 
This,  on  the  one  hand,  is  not  strange,  for  grave  respon- 
sibilities have  made  more  than  one  man  conservative 
and  have  made  his  contemporaries  impatient  with  him 
on  that  account.  It  is  probably  in  this  direction  that 
one  should  seek  the  explanation  for  the  change  of 
front  on  the  part  of  Luther  who  in  1516  wrote  to 
Spalatin  in  regard  to  Tauler,  the  famous  mystic : 
"Neither  in  the  Latin  nor  in  the  German  have  I  ever 
found  purer  or  more  wholesome  teaching,  nor  any  that 
so  agrees  with  the  Gospel,"  and  his  later  attitude  to- 
ward some  of  Tauler's  most  consistent  disciples.  This 
may  also  account  for  the  fact  that  during  his  earlier 
public  work  he  agreed,  in  his  conception  of  the  Church, 
with  those  whom  later  he  condemned  and  persecuted 
for  holding  that  same  conception.  Such  changes  of 
front  were  very  often  considered  just  cause  for  com- 


SURVEY  OF  THE  TIMES  21 

plaint  and  opposition,  and  they  cannot  always  be  satis- 
factorily explained.  At  best  they  were  unfortunate, 
especially  because  of  the  fact  that,  as  time  passed, 
Luther  seems  to  have  become  increasingly  afraid  to 
entrust  the  Christianity  which  he  had  "rediscovered 
as  religion",  as  Loofs  says,  to  the  people  in  any  but  a 
theological  garb  which  tended  to  hide  it  from  them 
again.  Even  when  one  gives  Luther  the  benefit  of 
every  doubt  as  to  his  moral  responsibility  in  the  mat- 
ter, one  can  readily  see  how  such  unexplained  changes 
dogmatically  insisted  upon  should  have  caused  people 
to  lose  confidence  in  his  leadership,  and  it  is  also  quite 
readily  conceivable  that  men  thus  disappointed  would, 
under  the  stress  of  circumstances  in  which  they  found 
themselves,  hardly  do  otherwise  than  react  more  or 
less  forcibly  against  the  cause  represented  by  a  leader 
like  Luther. 

What  has  been  said  concerning  Luther  also  applies 
largely  to  Zwingli.  He,  too,  was  afraid  to  grant  others 
the  same  rights  which  he  had  demanded  from  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  He  wanted  to  safeguard 
against  a  possible  victory  on  the  part  of  the  Roman 
hierachy  by  establishing  a  State  Church.  This  makes 
it  evident  why  he  wanted  no  schisms,  even  tho  it 
does  not  furnish  a  satisfactory  excuse  for  the  cruel 
intolerance  which  he  showed  toward  those  whose  prin- 
cipal desire  was  the  establishment  of  a  religious  life  in 
which  the  practices  were  emphasized  rather  than  the 


22  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

doctrines.  It  can  hardly  be  denied  that  Zwingli,  in 
his  attempt  to  stamp  out  the  Anabaptists,  resorted  to 
measures  of  a  nature  which  bordered  upon  treachery. 
It  is  no  wonder  that  the  people  eventually  became  sus- 
picious that  they  had  simply  fallen  into  the  hands  of  a 
new  popedom  and  therefore  became  increasingly  sym- 
pathetic toward  those  whom  they  were  supposed  to 
help  persecute.  If  this  attitude  on  the  part  of  the 
common  people  had  made  Zwingli  abate  his  hatred 
toward  the  Anabaptists  in  the  same  measure  in  which 
he  ceased  his  threats,  much  of  the  tragic  history  of  the 
declining  years  of  his  life  would  probably  have  never 
transpired.  Naturally  enough,  those  who  felt  his 
wrath  were  not  in  position  to  consider  fully  the  fact 
that  Zwingli  was  overworked,  nor  could  they  fully 
realize  how  heavily  his  new  responsibilities  weighed 
upon  him  and  how  sensitive  he  would  be  toward  any- 
thing which  increased  his  burdens,  and  especially 
when,  at  the  same  time,  it  increased  his  fear  of  being 
overwhelmed  by  the  Roman  hierarchy. 

It  was  particularly  unfortunate  for  the  whole  Refor- 
mation movement  that  Luther  and  Zwingli  should 
have  become  entangled  in  such  a  bitter  feud.  It  is  not 
germane  to  the  purposes  of  the  present  work  to  in- 
vestigate in  just  how  far  the  one  or  the  other,  both  or 
neither,  may  have  been  blameworthy,  but  the  fact  that 
they  became  thus  engaged  had  its  far-reaching  in- 
fluence upon  the  counter-Reformation  with  which  we 


SURVEY  OF  THE  TIMES  23 

shall  deal  in  later  chapters.  Bax  is  quite  correct  when, 
speaking  of  this  deplorable  fact,  he  says :  "Meanwhile 
the  effect  of  the  continuous  theological  wrangling  of 
the  Reformers  amongst  themselves,  who  showed  them- 
selves only  thoroughly  united  in  their  attack  on  Catho- 
licism and  on  certain  Catholic  usages,  was  to  detach 
large  numbers  of  the  non-learned  classes  from  the  pos- 
itive dogmatic  system  that  the  learned  were  endeavor- 
ing to  set  up  in  the  place  of  the  old  Catholic  theology." 
(Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Anabaptists,  p.  9.)  Only  he  need 
not  have  restricted  it  to  "the  non-learned"  as  we  shall 
see  later. 

This  survey  gives  one  an  idea  of  the  complexity  of 
the  situation  at  the  time  when  disorganized  move- 
ments began  to  crystallize  and  also  suggests  some  ol 
the  difficulties  which  would  arise  from  such  conditions. 
These  conditions  were  well  adapted  to  make  men  won- 
der in  how  far  the  "Church"  had  a  right  to  call  itself 
"Christian",  or,  in  other  words,  in  how  far  Christ  had 
anything  to  do  with  the  history  which  was  being  made 
by  the  Churches  which  called  Him  their  Head. 


CHAPTER  II 

CHARACTERISTICS  OF  ANABAPTISTS 

"Anno  1524  and  1525  A.  C  is  God's  Word  and  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  come  into  all  Germany,  after 
the  Peasants'  War."  (Geschichtsbiicher  der  Wieder- 
taufer  in  Oesterreich  Ungarn.  Herausgegeben  von  J. 
von  Beck,  II,  pp.  11,  12,  quoted  from  Bax,  "Rise  and 
Fall  of  the  Anabaptists,"  p.  3.) 

Sebastian  Franck,  in  his  Chronick,  III,  fol.  188,  ob- 
serves respecting  the  spread  of  the  new  movement: 
"The  course  of  the  Anabaptists  was  so  swift  that  their 
doctrines  soon  overspread  the  whole  land  and  they 
obtained  much  following,  baptized  thousands  and 
drew  many  good  hearts  to  them ;  for  they  thought,  as 
it  seemed,  nothing  but  love,  faith  and  endurance,  show- 
ing themselves  in  much  tribulation  patient  and  hum- 
ble, etc." 

Brons  (pp.  llfif  in  "Ursprung,  Entwicklung  und 
Schicksale",  usw.)  suggests  that  the  Anabaptist  move- 
ment was  an  echo  of  the  principles  laid  down  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  and  of  the  practical  and  ethical 
portion  of  the  Apostolic  letters.  This  suggests  why 
the  letter  of  James  was  so  highly  esteemed  by  them 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  ANABAPTISTS  25 

and  may  explain  why  Luther,  in  later  controversies, 
permitted  himself  to  go  so  far  in  condemning  that 
letter. 

This  movement  arose  principally  from  the  broad 
strata  of  the  common  people.  Occasionally  members 
of  the  privileged  classes  allied  themselves  with  this 
movement.  It  is  quite  possible  that  this  may  have 
been  out  of  ulterior  motives.  Kautsky  suggests  that 
wealthy  men  often  united  with  the  poor  Christian  par- 
ties to  fight  the  Church  and  that  they  withdrew  their 
support  just  as  quickly  as  they  were  no  longer  served 
by  such  union,  thus  leaving  these  poor  Christian  par- 
ties to  their  doom  of  annihilation  by  the  Church  or  to 
endless  splits  among  themselves.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
the  fact  remains  that  there  was  a  profound  and  gener- 
al reaction  among  the  masses  of  western  Europe 
against  the  abuses  of  the  Church.  This  reaction  sel- 
dom took  the  form  of  an  organic  separation  from  the 
Church  until  persecution  made  such  a  step  necessary. 
This  accounts  for  the  difficulties,  due  to  lack  of  prep- 
aration, for  organized  procedure  among  the  dissenting 
bodies.  Thus  it  came  about  that  men  who  were  agreed 
on  the  most  fundamental  points  of  doctrine  differed  on 
the  question  as  to  whether  they  should  leave  the  estab- 
lished Church.  Those  who  did  were  early  called  Ana- 
babtists,  but  later  it  occurred  that  all  who  criticised 
the  attitudes  of  the  Roman  hierarchy,  the  Lutheran  or 
the  Zwinglian  churches  thru  word  or  life,  were  brand- 


26  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

ed  as  Anabaptists,  even  tho  they  had  not  formally 
severed  their  connection  with  their  Church. 

The  fact  that  political,  social  and  economical  as 
well  as  religious  factors  came  into  play  necessarily 
produced  a  great  deal  of  confusion  among  the  dissent- 
ers themselves.  The  movement  was  essentially  demo- 
cratic or  even  individualistic  and  the  fact  that  local 
conditions  played  such  an  important  role  in  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  dissent  often  manifested  itself,  made 
a  general,  unified  uprising  an  impossibility.  Hence  it 
seems  best  to  consider  the  entire  movement  as  a  simul- 
taneous but  unorganized  reaction  against  the  abuses  of 
those  in  power.  The  people  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously felt  the  need  of  democracy  but  the  spirit  of 
the  age  was  against  it  and  their  leaders  had  not  yet 
learned  the  methods  of  democratic  leadership  fully 
enough  to  guide  them  in  attaining  to  the  desired  free- 
dom quickly  and  successfully. 

There  were  many  lords  and  masters  and  hence 
many  degrees  of  abuse.  This  necessarily  resulted  in 
a  great  variety  of  opinions  as  to  just  what  was  wrong 
among  those  who  felt  the  results  of  the  maladjust- 
ments most  keenly  and,  since  neither  the  ruled  nor  the 
rulers  saw  clearly  just  what  were  the  causes  for  the 
existing  strain,  it  was  natural  for  the  former  to  lose 
confidence  in  the  latter  and  for  the  latter  to  consider 
all  those  who  did  not  fit  themselves  into  existing  con- 
ditions as  mal-contents  who  needed  to  be  subdued. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  ANABAPTISTS  27 

The  rulers  had  the  advantage  of  combining  and  did  not 
miss  their  opportunity  of  using  it.  This  fact  may  have 
contributed  to  the  naming  of  all  kinds  of  "unruly" 
subjects  Anabaptists.  This  name  suggests  that  the 
rulers  considered  the  movement  a  religious  one,  but 
that  does  not  necessarily  imply  that  they  thot  of 
it  as  a  spiritaial  movement.  For  the  purposes  of  this 
thesis  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  that  part  of  the 
movement  v^hich  was  religious  in  the  spiritual  sense. 

The  members  of  the  so-called  Anabaptist  move- 
ment preferred  to  be  called  Apostolic  Brethren,  but 
their  preferences  were  consulted  as  little  in  this  mat- 
ter as  in  that  of  their  faith  and  their  practices.  They 
have  been  known  by  many  names:  Wiedertaufer 
(Anabaptists),  Widertaufer  (Katabaptists),  Taufge- 
sinnten  (Baptist-minded),  etc.  Later  that  portion  of 
the  movement  in  which  we  are  more  especially  inter- 
ested came  to  be  known  by  the  names :  Manisten,  Men- 
nisten,  Mennoniten  (Mennonites),  or  Protestant  Men- 
nonite  Church.  (Martyrerspiegel,  I,  p.  14.)  The  latter 
designations  also  came  from  the  enemies  of  those  so 
named.  (Rues,  Simon  Fr.,  Gegenwartiger  Zustand  der 
Mennoniten,  p.  1.)  Also  see  Mennonite  Year  Book, 
1899,  p.  20.) 

It  has  sometimes  been  inferred  from  the  name  that 
the  question  of  baptism  was  the  sole  cause  of  all  the 
tragic  history  which  was  made  in  connection  with  the 
Anabaptist  movement.    This  is  not  the  case,  however. 


28  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

Baptism  came  to  the  forefront  because  of  the  fact  that 
it  was  used  as  a  sign  of  membership  in  the  new  move- 
ment. The  fact  that  this  new  movement  had  been 
started  as  a  protest  against  the  evil  practices  among 
the  powerful  classes  in  both  Church  and  State  natur- 
ally made  its  ensign  odious  among  the  members  of 
these  classes  and  it  was  they  who  advertised  baptism 
until  it  stood  for  all  that  was  hateful  to  them  and  to 
their  colleagues. 

At  first  there  was  little  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
people  who  desired  a  new  emphasis  on  religion  to 
formulate  their  conceptions  scientifically.  They  sim- 
ply stated  their  conviction  and  seem  to  have  felt  that 
that  should  be  sufficient  to  make  the  authorities,  and 
especially  the  preachers  and  the  priests,  take  steps 
which  would  correct  the  evils  existing  within  the 
Churches. 

The  earliest  confession  of  faith  of  which  we  have 
any  knowledge  now  was  drawn  up  at  Schleitheim,  near 
Schafifhausen  in  1527.  It  was  called  "A  Brotherly 
Union  of  Some  Children  of  God."  The  following  is  an 
epitome  of  the  points  contained  in  this  "Confession" : 

1.  "Baptism. — Baptism  shall  be  administered  to  all 
who  are  taught  repentance  and  a  change  of  life,  and 
truly  believe  in  the  forgiveness  of  their  sins  through 
Jesus  Christ,  and  are  willing  to  walk  in  newness  of 
life ;  all  those  shall  be  baptized  when  they  desire  it 
and  ask  it  by  the  decision  of  their  own  minds,  which 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  ANABAPTISTS  29 

excludes  all  infant  baptism  according  to  the  Scriptures 
and  the  practice  of  the  Apostles." 

2.  "The  Ban  or  Excommunication. — This  shall  be 
practiced  with  all  those  who  have  given  themselves  to 
the  Lord,  to  follow  His  commandments,  are  baptized, 
and  call  themselves  brethren  and  sisters,  and  yet  stum- 
ble and  fall  into  sin,  or  are  unexpectedly  overtaken ; 
these  after  admonition  according  to  Matthew  18,  if 
they  do  not  repent  shall  be  excommunicated." 

3.  "Breaking  of  Bread.  —  All  who  wish  to  break 
'one  ])read'  in  remembrance  of  the  broken  body  of 
Christ,  and  drink  of  'one  cup'  in  remembrance  of  His 
shed  blood,  shall  be  united  by  baptism  into  one  body 
which  is  the  congregation  of  God  and  of  which  Christ 
is  the  Head." 

4.  "Separation  from  the  World.  —  The  Christian 
must  be  separated  from  all  the  evil  and  wickedness 
that  Satan  has  planted  into  this  world.  According  to 
II  Cor.  6:17,  18:  'We  shall  come  out  from  among  them 
and  be  separate' ;  separate  from  all  Papistic  works 
and  services,  meetings  and  church-goings,  drinking 
houses  and  other  things  which  the  world  highly  es- 
teems." 

5.  "Ministers. — The  ministers  shall,  according  to 
the  teaching  of  Paul,  be  of  good  report  of  them  that  are 
without.  He  shall  teach,  exhort,  and  help  all  the  mem- 
bers to  advance  in  their  spiritual  life.  When  he  has 
needs  he  shall  be  aided  by  the  congregations  which 


30         CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

chose  him  to  his  work.  If  he  should  be  driven  away, 
or  imprisoned,  or  killed,  another  minister  shall  at  once 
be  put  into  his  place." 

6.  "Taking  the  Sword. — The  worldly  governments 
of  the  land  are  to  use  the  sword,  but  in  the  perfect 
congregation  of  Christ,  excommunication  is  used,  by 
which  no  one  suffers  violence  to  his  body.  Peter  says : 
'Christ  has  suffered  (not  reigned)  and  has  given  us  an 
example  that  we  should  follow  in  His  footsteps.' 
Neither  is  it  the  Christian's  work  to  have  a  part  in  civil 
government,  because  the  rulings  of  government  are 
according  to  the  flesh,  but  the  government  of  Christ  is 
according  to  the  Spirit.  The  weapons  of  the  world  are 
carnal,  but  the  weapons  of  the  Christian  are  spiritual 
to  the  overcoming  of  the  world  and  Satan." 

7.  "Oaths. — Christ,  who  taught  the  law  in  perfec- 
tion, forbade  His  disciples  all  oaths,  whether  true  or 
false.  By  this  we  understand  that  all  swearing  is  for- 
bidden." 

(For  a  more  complete  statement  of  the  foregoing 
seven  points  see  Appendix  I  of  this  work ;  for  a  briefer 
statement  see  Moeller,  History  of  the  Christian 
Church,  Reformation  to  1648,  pp.  89f.) 

Men  are  sometimes  struck  by  the  simplicity  of  this 
statement  and  wonder  why  it  contains  nothing  of  the 
many  things  of  which  they  had  heard  that  Anabaptists 
believed.  One  must  not  forget  that  "confessions" 
were  often  wrung  from  adherents  of  the  movement  by 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  ANABAPTISTS  31 

the  use  of  cruel  torture.  Records  were  made  of  these 
"confessions"  and  these  formed  the  bases  for  state- 
ments concerning  the  beliefs  of  the  Anabaptists.  (For 
a  sample  of  such  a  record  see  Appendix  II). 

It  is  surprising  that  such  procedure  was  able  to 
produce  no  more  discrepancies  among  the  things  con- 
fessed. 

Another  fruitful  and  more  satisfactory  source  of 
information  concerning  the  beliefs  of  the  Anabaptists 
and  early  Mennonites  are  their  hymns.  These  were 
composed  during  times  of  persecution  and  were  often 
confessions  of  faith  in  rhyme.  They  were  committed 
and  sung  or  recited  as  opportunity  offered.  For  a  long 
time  the  value  of  these  hymns  was  under-estimated, 
but  within  recent  years  efforts  have  been  made  to 
make  use  of  this  material.  (Cf.  Dr.  Rudolph  Wolkan, 
Die  Lieder  der  Wiedertaufer.)  Their  enemies  report 
that  the  Anabaptists  had  many  such  hymns  describing 
the  deaths  of  those  who  were  executed  and  that  they 
sang  these  according  to  popular  melodies.  (Cf.  Wol- 
kan, Die  Lieder  der  Wiedertaufer,  pp.  I  and  III  of  his 
Vorrede  for  a  discussion  of  the  information  given  by 
Erhard  and  by  Fischer.)  These  enemies  were  scandal- 
ized at  such  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  Anabaptists. 
Their  own  information,  however,  shows  us  of  what 
value  these  hymns  were  in  disseminating  the  beliefs 
of  the  Anabaptists.  When  men  and  women,  driven 
from  their  homes  or  places  of  secret  abode,  went  about 


J2  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

singing  or  reciting  the  stories  of  their  martyred  breth- 
ren, exalting  the  faith  and  courage  of  these  departed 
ones,  it  was  little  wonder  that  the  great  mass  of  people, 
groaning  under  the  load  of  oppression,  caught  the 
vision  of  a  new  hope.  Such  people  naturally  allied 
themselves  with  the  movement  which  furnished  them 
the  new  inspiration. 

The  emphasis  of  the  Anabaptists  was  on  life  rather 
than  doc^^rine.  They  preached  their  message  with  con- 
viction because  of  this  very  fact.  Bax  says  of  them : 
"The  preaching  of  these  people  produced  startling  ef- 
fects. With  a  greeting  of  peace  they  would  enter  a 
cottage  and  begin  to  expound  the  Bible  to  the  in- 
mates." No  wonder  that  the  congregations  sprang  up 
everywhere.  Yet  these  people  would  have  consented 
to  remain  in  the  established  churches  if  the  gross  im- 
m^oralities  of  the  priests  and  preachers  had  not  made 
that  impossible. 

The  Anabaptists  were  simple-minded  people  who 
took  the  Bible  literally,  especially  those  portions  of  it 
which  deal  with  the  ethical  aspects  of  life.  They  felt 
that  if  a  man  had  confessed  Jesus  Christ  as  his  Lord, 
he  was  bound  to  live  a  Christ-like  life.  They  felt  sure 
of  the  correctness  of  their  position  concerning  this 
point  thru  the  conviction,  born  of  an  intuitional  feel- 
ing as  to  the  difference  between  right  and  wrong 
rather  than  thru  the  conclusions  reached  by  proc- 
ess of  logic.    This  accounts  for  the  fact  that  they  were 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  ANABAPTISTS  33 

loathe  to  frame  dogmatic  confessions  and  also  sug- 
gests why  so  many  of  them  mistrusted  the  learned 
whose  logic  caused  them  so  much  discomfort  and 
whose  evil  lives  made  them  under-estimate  the  value 
of  learning.  Not  all  Anabaptists  reacted  thus,  for  some 
of  them  valued  learning  very  highly  but  they  all  de- 
plored that  the  learned,  as  a  class,  made  such  bad  use 
of  their  opportunities  and  in  this  they  were  not  alone, 
for  Erasmus  wrote  to  Capito  in  1518:  "I  wish  that 
there  could  be  an  end  to  scholastic  subtleties,  or,  if 
not  an  end,  they  could  be  thrust  into  a  second  place 
and  Christ  taught  plainly  and  simply.  The  reading 
of  the  Bible  and  the  Early  Fathers  will  have  this  ef- 
fect. Doctrines  are  taught  now  which  have  no  affinity 
with  Christ,  and  only  darken  our  eyes."  If  men  like 
Erasmus  felt  thus  about  the  matter  it  is  not  surprising 
that  the  Anabaptists  reacted  as  they  did,  nor  is  it  any 
wonder  that  the  unlearned  masses  lost  all  confidence 
in  learning,  for,  as  Kautsky  says :  "A  class  or  commu- 
nity which  is  in  the  process  of  decline,  or  hopelessly 
trodden  down  by  others,  will  oppose  itself  to  the 
knowledge  of  truth."  (Communism  in  Central  Europe, 
p.  19.) 

As  a  result  of  their  emphasis  upon  the  ethical  side 
of  Christianity,  the  Anabaptists  were  forced  to  the 
position  that  no  man  had  a  right  to  consider  himself  a 
member  of  the  Church  who  was  not  even  trying  to  live 
according  to  the  will  of  Christ.    This  position  brought 


34  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

them  into  conflict  with  all  those  churches  which  made 
members  of  people  before  these,  or  any  one  else,  could 
tell  what  kind  of  lives  they  were  going  to  live.  An 
investigation  as  to  the  Scriptural  validity  of  infant 
baptism  followed  and  many  reached  the  conclusion 
that  there  was  no  Scriptural  warrant  for  the  same. 
Luther,  Zwingli  and  others  later  sacrificed  this  conclu- 
sion for  their  ideals  of  the  Church,  but  the  Anabaptists 
concluded  that  they  would  drop  infant  baptism  and 
baptized  each  other  on  confession  of  faith.  Hence- 
forth to  them  baptism  meant  that  the  recipient  thereby 
declared  that  he  would  be  obedient  to  God  and  that  he 
had  become  a  member  of  the  real  Church,  the  "Body 
of  Christ".  This  position  led  to  the  charge  that  they 
considered  only  those  members  of  the  "Body  of 
Christ"  who  had  been  thus  baptized.  The  evidence  ad- 
duced in  presenting  these  charges  is  convincing  only 
in  so  far  as  it  applies  to  non-representative  cases,  how- 
ever. Besides  it  is  well  to  remember  that  these  charges 
were  brought  by  enemies  who  admit  that  they  get  the 
statements  upon  which  they  based  the  charges  from 
those  whom  they  were  torturing.  The  representative 
leaders  of  the  Anabaptists  stood  for  no  such  narrow 
view.  If  a  man  gave  evidence  that  he  was  a  child  of 
God  by  the  kind  of  life  he  lived,  they  considered  him  a 
Christian  and  many  of  them  deplored  the  fact  that  the 
corruption  of  the  leaders  of  the  established  churches 
was  such  that  they  were  compelled  to  form  a  new  or- 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  ANABAPTISTS  35 

ganization  at  all.  It  seems  that  they  would  have  been 
willing  to  remain  in  the  Church  and  use  the  rite  of 
baptism  simply  as  a  sign  of  personal  confession  and 
not  as  the  sign  of  membership  in  a  temporal  organiza- 
tion, but  this  idea  was  soon  suppressed  by  the  perse- 
cutions which  followed.  They  wanted  no  new  organi- 
zation. The  experiences  of  Luther  and  Zwingli  were 
no  encouragement  in  the  direction  of  starting  new 
organizations  and  besides  the  nature  of  their  desires 
was  such  as  to  make  them  want  life  and  not  more  ma- 
chinery. They  were  mystically  rather  than  politically 
inclined.  Finally,  however,  they  acted  under  the  slo- 
gan, "New  wine  in  new  skins,"  and  thus  gave  expres- 
sion to  the  conviction  that  there  was  no  longer  any 
use  in  trying  to  reform  the  established  order  of  things. 
The  foregoing  presentation  of  things  does  not  leave 
out  of  consideration  the  history  made  at  Miinster  and 
other  places  where  similar,  tho  less  notorious,  things 
transpired.  No  denomination  now  existing,  which 
took  its  root  in  the  Anabaptist  movement,  finds 
that  its  leaders  and  the  leading  spirits  of  the  Miinster 
and  kindred  movements  were  of  one  mind  sufficiently 
to  have  remained  long  with  one  organization.  The 
Miinster  leaders  differed  widely  from  the  representa- 
tive type  of  Anabaptists  in  many  important  points, 
e.  g.  in  their  attitude  toward  war,  toward  the  magis- 
tracy, in  their  chiliastic  intepretations  and  their  apoca- 
lyptic hopes,  etc.    That  individual  members  of  repre- 


36  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

sentative  Anabaptist  communities  were  drawn  into 
this  maelstrom  of  fanaticism,  desperation  and  fatal 
tragedy  is  true  and,  under  the  conditions,  not  surpris- 
ing, but  it  is  also  true  that  there  were  those,  in  no  way 
connected  with  the  Anabaptists,  who  were  drawn  into 
the  Miinster  uprising.  That  the  representative  leaders 
of  the  Anabaptists  were  not  willing  to  recognize  the 
leaders  of  the  Miinster  episode  is  now  generally  ad- 
mitted. In  fact,  they  are  sometimes  blamed  for  not 
having  done  so. 

The  Miinster  incident  should  be  looked  upon  as  a 
natural  fruit  of  the  excessive  oppressions  of  the  lower 
classes.  Their  leaders  would  probably  have  acted  dif- 
ferently under  less  desperate  circumstances.  When 
people  become  crazed  by  the  bitterness  of  conditions 
and  are  subjected  to  man's  inhumanity  to  man  as  were 
these  people,  one  cannot  expect  them  to  act  with  great 
deliberation.  Schiller  was  quite  right  when  he  said 
in  his  ''Das  Lied  von  der  Glocke" : 

"Gefahrlich  ist's,  den  Leu  zu  wecken, 

Verderblich  ist  des  Tigers  Zahn  ; 

Jedoch  der  schrecklichste  der  Schrecken, 

Das  ist  der  Mensch  in  seinem  Wahn." 
The  most  vivid  portrayals  of  the  things  which  the 
frenzied  people  at  Miinster  are  supposed  to  have  done 
may  not  be  overdrawn,  but  that  does  not  make  the 
Anabaptist  movement  responsible  for  the  history 
which  was  made  there.     Those  are  responsible  who 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  ANABAPTISTS  37 

drove  them  to  such  desperation  and  not  the  Anabap- 
tists who  tried  to  dissuade  them  from  their  extreme 
measures.  We  have  too  long  allowed  ourselves  to  be 
blinded  by  the  prejudiced  reports  of  the  responsible 
parties  in  this  matter. 

The  efifects  of  the  Miinster  uprising  were  a  mis- 
fortune for  the  peaceful  Anabaptists  because  of  the 
indiscriminate  application  of  the  name  "Anabaptists" 
to  all  "personna  non  grata".  This  tragic  episode  gave 
to  the  ecclesiastical  and  the  political  authorities  a,  to 
them,  satisfactory  occasion  for  taking  more  drastic  (if 
that  were  possible)  steps  to  suppress  and  eradicate  the 
people  whose  lives"  were  a  condemnation  of  their  own. 
The  fact  that  the  Anabaptists  professed  no  desire  to 
be  anything  but  peaceful  members  of  society,  obeying 
all  authority  so  long  as  its  demands  were  not  contrary 
to  the  will  of  God,  counted  for  little  with  their  persecu- 
tors. This  only  reminds  us,  however,  that  "revolution 
is  not  made  agreeable  to  men  who  hate  it  by  the  moral 
excellence  of  those  who  would  affect  it"  (Fairbairn, 
Philosophy  of  the  Christian  Religion,  p.  Z2?)).  The 
inhuman  methods  to  which  the  persecutors  resorted 
make  one  feel  with  Brons  that  it  is  a  wonder  that 
there  were  not  more  eccentricities.  This  is  true,  espe- 
cially after  the  vehemence  of  Luther  and  the  fear-born 
hatred  of  Zwingli  were  added  to  the  intrigues  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  leaders.  Such  attitudes  on  the  part 
of  these  leaders  make  one  feel  that  they  were  not  en- 


38  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

tirely  unselfish  in  their  positions  for,  if  cruelty  and 
deceit  are  at  the  bottom  of  selfishness  because  the  de- 
velopment of  any  selfish  passion  leads  to  these,  as  Dr. 
MacKenzie  says,  then  these  leaders,  great  as  they  may 
have  been  in  other  respects,  certainly  showed  them- 
selves to  be  the  possessors  of  large  capacities  for  self- 
ishness. They  certainly  showed  themselves  willing  to 
sacrifice  others.  They  seemed  to  be  little  affected  by 
the  fact  that  their  victims  admittedly  led  exemplary 
lives  (this  very  fact  seems  at  times  to  have  increased 
their  hatred  against  the  Anabaptists)  ;  that  others  felt 
obliged  to  raise  their  voices  in  protest  because  of  the 
inhumanities  perpetrated  in  the  name  of  religion  and 
that  the  killing  of  so  many  God-fearing  people  meant 
irreparable  loss  to  the  domains  in  which  these  perse- 
cutions were  waged.  (For  examples  of  estimates  of 
the  character  of  the  persecution  and  of  the  persecuted 
and  for  examples  of  protests  by  Schwenkfeld,  various 
church  and  civil  authorities  and  others,  see  Appendix 
III.) 

In  the  presence  of  such  facts  one  wonders  what  ec- 
centricities might  have  occurred  at  Miinster  if  the 
irony  of  fate  had  made  the  leaders  of  the  persecution 
into  the  leading  spirits  of  the  oppressed  classes! 

These  persecutions  robbed  the  Anabaptists  of  most 
of  their  ablest  leaders  and  unfitted  many  of  the  mem- 
bers for  the  new  responsibilities  which  thus  arose. 
This  condition  of  aflfairs  reacted  unfavorably  upon  the 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  ANABAPTISTS  39 

work  of  education  among  the  Anabaptists.  It  is  re- 
markable that  they  accomplished  as  much  as  they  did 
for  they  maintained  their  own  schools  in  secret  even 
during  the  times  of  persecution  (Brons,  p.  27)  and 
carried  on  their  teaching  vive  voce  when  their  schools 
were  made  impossible.  They  taught  their  children 
large  portions  of  the  Bible  and  they  gave  them  the 
opportunities  coming  from  catechetical  instruction. 
During  the  earlier  days  of  the  persecution  they  had 
many  highly  educated  leaders  but  many  of  these  were 
killed  and  others  were  hindered  from  teaching  or  writ- 
ing and  finally  there  came  a  time  when  there  was  a 
great  dearth  of  ediicational  facilities.  This  was  not  as 
the  Anabaptists  had  wished  it,  for  it  led  to  conditions 
which  they  and  their  successors  have  had  much  reason 
to  deplore  (cf.  e.  g.  Keller,  Die  Reformation  und  die 
alteren  Reformparteien,  p.  477).  It  was  among  those 
groups  of  the  Anabaptists  where  education  had  been 
suppressed  that  chiliastic  hopes  and  interpretations 
later  found  entrance,  but  these  did  not  have  a  deciding 
effect  upon  the  development  of  the  movement  later 
called  Mennonites. 

The  few  leaders  who  remained  had  learned  the 
lesson,  taught  by  the  excesses  of  the  Miinster  uprising 
so  well  that  they  persistently  warned  their  followers 
against  anything  which  might  lead  to  a  repetition  of 
such  occurrences.  It  is  remarkable  how,  under  the 
conditions,  they  were  able  to  make  such  constructive 


40  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

use  of  the  misfortune  and  the  tragedies  of  their  times. 
Let  us  note  for  instance  the  following  quotations  from 
the  works  of  Menno  Simon :  ''They  (the  children  of 
God)  must  in  all  misery,  ignominy  and  trouble  take 
upon  themselves  the  pressing  cross  and  must  follow 
the  rejected,  outcast,  bleeding  and  crucified  Christ,  as 
He  Himself  said:  Tf  any  man  will  come  after  Me,  let 
him  deny  himself  and  take  up  his  cross  and  follow 
Me.'  "  (Part  I,  p.  183.)  "Persecutions  will  not  cease 
so  long  as  there  are  righteous  and  unrighteous  people 
on  earth."  (Part  I,  p.  181.)  He  also  composed  a  list 
showing  "how  persecution  serves  for  our  good"  of 
which  the  following  is  an  epitome : 

1.  It  keeps  from  inclining  toward  earthly  ease, 
peace  and  prosperity  which  have  so  great  a  tendency 
to  ruin  and  undo  us  before  our  God  and  to  render  us 
careless,  refractory,  lukewarm  and  drowsy. 

2.  It  makes  us  lay  aside  the  sins  which  so  easily 
beset  us. 

3.  It  keeps  us  from  fleeting  thot. 

4.  It  puts  us  to  a  severe  test,  even  such  as  Christ 
experienced. 

5.  It  gives  us  firmness  of  confidence,  tranquility  of 
patience  and  vehement  ardor  of  prayer. 

At  the  close  of  this  summary  we  may  conclude  that 
whatever  the  detailed  differences  of  opinion  may  have 
been  as  to  Christ's  Headship  of  the  Church,  the  vast- 
ness  of  the  Anabaptist  movement  shows  that  among 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  ANABAPTISTS  41 

the  maSvSes  there  was  a  strong  feeling  that  in  the  work- 
ing out  of  things  Christ  was  no  longer  the  Head  of 
the  established  churches ;  and  the  means  used  by  these 
churches  show  that  whatever  their  confessions  may 
have  been  about  the  Headship  of  Christ,  in  their  anxi- 
ety for  the  success  of  their  respective  organizations 
they  preferred  to  lean  upon  the  strong  arm  of  the  law 
and  to  depend  upon  the  arms  of  the  human  lords ! 

This  brief  summary  of  the  conditions  found  among 
the  Anabaptists  during  the  first  half  of  the  16th  cen- 
tury also  leads  us  to  conclude  that  we  can  not  expect 
to  find  statements  concerning  Christ's  Headship  of  the 
Church  which  were  made  as  a  result  of  scholarly  re- 
search and  formulated  with  scholarly  nicety,  but  it 
also  shows  us  that  these  people  were  far  from  being 
devoid  of  conceptions  on  this  point.  To  them  the  I 
Church  was  the  body  of  those  who  belonged  to  Christ 
because  they  had  chosen  to  accept  Him  as  their  Savior 
and  consistently  followed  Him  as  their  Head.  The 
Anabaptists  could  not  conceive  of  Christianity  under 
any  other  arrangement  and  reacted  against  anything 
else  called  Christianity  so  powerfully  that  they  were 
willing  to  give  up  everything  in  defense  of  their  con- 
viction. 


CHAPTER  III 

REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  OF  THE  ANA- 
BAPTISTS AND  EARLY  MENNONITES. 

We  find  many  types  of  mind  represented  among 
the  Anabaptists  and  early  Mennonite  leaders.  This  is 
not  surprising  when  we  take  into  consideration  the 
conditions  under  which  they  were  brot  together  and 
the  fact  that  the  movement  was  so  little  organized. 
Then,  too,  the  fact  that  so  many  of  these  leaders  were 
quickly  removed  by  death  leaves  room  for  speculation 
as  to  what  they  might  have  thot,  said,  written  or 
done  if  the  cruel  hand  of  persecution  had  not  removea 
them  so  early  from  the  scene  of  action.  As  things  are, 
it  happens  that  different  denominations  claim  the  same 
men  as  their  spiritual  ancestors.  This  seems  no  se- 
rious condition  of  affairs  to  the  present  writer,  espe- 
cially in  view  of  the  purpose  of  this  work.  The  very 
fact  that  these  leaders  were  of  one  mind  on  such  fun- 
damental questions  as  to  make  it  possible  for  various 
denominations  to  claim  them  legitimately  is  proof  that 
they  are  worthy  of  serious  consideration  on  so  far- 
reaching  a  question  as  Christ's  Headship  of  the 
Church. 

Brief  sketches  of  the  lives  of  some  of  these  leaders 


REPRESENTATIVE  LEADERS  43 

are  here  presented  for  the  purpose  of  becoming  ac- 
quainted with  the  types  of  mind  found  among  those 
whose  views  are  considered  representative  on  the  ques- 
tion under  discussion  and  also  to  see  under  what  cir- 
cumstances they  gave  expression  to  the  thots  and 
views  which  are  of  interest  to  us. 

A  study  of  such  lives  is  both  profitable  and  pathet- 
ic. "Those  who  had  this  vision,  and  with  it  had  the 
power  of  restraint  and  the  gifts  of  statesmanship  to 
see  what  would  work  and  what  would  not  work  in  the 
world  as  it  actually  was  then,  became  the  leaders  of 
the  Protestant  Reformation  and  have  their  renown 
in  the  pages  of  history.  Those  who  had  this  vision 
and  who  were  resolved  to  make  the  world  fit  the  vision, 
with  no  shade  of  leveling  down  and  no  hair's  breadth 
of  a  compromise,  became  the  leaders  of  Anabaptism, 
risked  everything  for  the  cause  they  believed  in,  flung 
out  ideals  which  have  been  guiding  stars  for  us  ever 
since,  went  to  death  in  terrible  fashions,  and  fell  on 
almost  total  obscurity.  It  is  a  story  well  worth  telling 
and  quite  worth  reading."  (Studies  in  Mystical  Re- 
ligion, Dr.  Rufus  M.  Jones,  p.  371.) 

A.    Hans  Denck. 

"Christum  vermag  niemand  wahrlich  zu  erkennen, 
es  sei  denn,  dass  er  ihm  nachfolge  im  Leben."  This 
brief  quotation  from  the  writings  of  Hans  Denck  gives 
us  a  deep  insight  into  the  kind  of  thinking  which  he 


44  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

did.  He  was  a  man  who  lived  but  a  short  time  but  he 
influenced  many  toward  better  thinking  and,  what 
was  of  more  concern  to  him,  toward  better  living. 

We  know  little  of  Denck's  early  life.  Even  the 
place  and  date  of  his  birth  are  unknown.  Kessler  calls 
him  a  BaA^arian  and  Vadian  refers  to  him  as  a  youth 
at  a  time  which  makes  it  probable  that  Denck  was 
born  near  the  close  of  the  15th  century.  He  is  charac- 
terized as  a  quiet,  chaste  youth  who  gained  favor  very 
rapidly  because  of  his  personal  charms  and  his  gifts. 
He  was  a  teacher  and  was  well  versed  in  Latin,  Greek 
and  Hebrew.  Such  men  as  Kessler  and  Capito  re- 
garded him  highly  as  a  man  altho  they  deplored  very 
much  that  he  was  affected  by  such  "terrible  here- 
sies". The  same  was  true  of  Bucer  who  felt  that  Denck 
had  abused  his  gifts  by  using  them  for  the  cause  of  the 
Anabaptists.  He  called  Denck  the  Pope  of  the  Ana- 
baptists. Urbanus  Rhegius  called  him  the  Abbot  of 
the  ''Brethren".  Berthold  Haller,  in  writing  to  Zwingli 
regarding  Denck,  calls  him  "the  Apollo  of  the  Ana- 
baptists". Johannes  Bader  refers  to  him  as  "the  noted 
Hans  Denck  with  whom  he  would  not  dare  to  compare 
himself".  Peter  Gyhraeus  calls  him  "the  Head  of  the 
Anabaptists"  and  Bullinger  calls  him  the  "Rabbi" 
among  the  Anabaptists.  These  estimates,  coming 
from  such  who  were  not  in  sympathy  with  the  cause 
which  Denck  had  espoused,  show  that  he  was  a  per- 
sonality of  no  mean  ability. 


REPRESENTATIVE  LEADERS  45 

Denck  studied  at  the  University  of  Basel  at  the 
time  when  Desiderius  Erasmus  wielded  his  influence 
upon  the  German  intellectual  world.  Denck  did  not 
get  his  views  from  Erasmus,  however.  He  received 
the  degree  of  Magister  Liberalium  Artium  from  the 
University  of  Basel.  He  became  a  proof-reader  in 
Basel  and  continued  his  studies  at  the  University  dur- 
ing his  spare  time.  The  publishers  of  those  days  were 
usually  cultured  men  who  stood  high  in  the  literary 
world  so  that  his  work  as  well  as  his  studies  afforded 
Denck  cultural  opportunities.  During  this  time  he 
attended  the  lectures  of  Oecolampadius  and  even  had 
private  conferences  with  him.  For  this  he  was  later 
accused  but  truthfully  maintained  that  Oecolampadius 
had  not  changed  his  views  in  regard  to  the  Anabap- 
tist movement. 

Denck  owed  very  much  to  Tauler  and  one  cannot 
understand  either  the  religious  teachings  or  the  con- 
duct of  Denck  unless  one  remembers  that  his  views 
and  ideals  were  related  with  the  activities  of  the 
"Friends  of  God"  and  the  "Children  of  God",  e.  g. 
Heinrich  Eckhart  and  Johannes  Tauler.  Denck  also 
was  a  mystic,  but  not  of  the  hermit  type.  He  believed 
that  God  imparted  Himself  to  His  followers  in  a  prac- 
tical way,  as  well  as  thru  the  Bible  and  thru  the  intel- 
lect. Luther  and  Zwingli  had  come  under  the  same 
mystical  influence  but  reacted  in  a  different  way  when 
once  thev  faced  their  life-work. 


46  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

In  1523  Denck  was  made  rector  of  the  St.  Sebaldus 
School  at  Niirnberg,  which  was  then  the  center  of  the 
intellectual  life  of  that  portion  of  Europe.  This  posi- 
tion came  to  him  thru  the  influence  of  Oecolampadius. 
Thru  Osiander's  influence  the  followers  of  Luther 
had  succeeded  in  getting  the  magistracy  on  their  side 
and  thus  practically  introduced  the  Lutheran  Refor- 
mation. There  were  many,  however,  who  felt  that  the 
situation  was  not  satisfactory  because  there  was  no 
more  emphasis  on  moral  living  than  there  had  been 
under  Roman  Catholic  rule.  Hans  Sachs  made  serious 
charges  against  the  conduct  of  the  Lutheran  leaders ; 
Uhlhorn  admitted  gross  inconsistencies  and  even  Osi- 
ander,  who  was  considered  by  the  followers  of  Luther 
as  one  of  the  leaders  among  the  Reformers,  made  simi- 
lar charges.  Such  conditions  naturally  made  a  man 
of  Denck's  temperament  and  character  very  thot- 
ful.  Little  did  he  think,  however,  how  soon  these 
things  would  mean  persecution,  separation  from  his 
young  wife,  a  few  short  years  of  very  bitter  experien- 
ces and  then  an  untimely  death  for  him.  He  soon  felt 
himself  compelled  to  raise  his  voice  in  protest  against 
the  evil  practices  within  the  Church.  This  brot  him 
into  difficulties  with  Osiander  who  could  not  bear 
to  be  opposed  by  any  one.  When  Denck  insisted  upon 
a  life  consistent  with  the  confession  Osiander  began 
to  oppose  him.  A  discussion  on  the  Lord's  Supper 
led  to  serious  differences  and  Osiander  had  him  called 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  47 

for  a  disputation.  An  enemy  of  Denck  reported  that 
he  answered  so  skillfully  that  it  appeared  useless  to 
dispute  with  him  verbally  any  longer  and  he  was  or- 
dered to  give  his  views  in  writing.  This  he  did,  as  re- 
quested, on  the  Holy  Scriptures,  Sin,  the  Righteous- 
ness of  God,  the  Law,  the  Gospel,  Baptism  and  the 
Lord's  Supper.  Osiander  had  promised  him  a  written 
answer  but  failed  to  keep  his  promise  because  "he 
thought  that  it  would  not  help  Denck  anyway" !  Denck 
was  ordered  to  leave  the  city  on  short  notice  and  not 
to  come  within  ten  miles  of  the  same  again.  This  he 
did  without  remonstrance,  altho  the  order  came  to  him 
as  a  painful  surprise-.  He  left  Niirnberg  January  21, 
1525,  because  "he  had  introduced  and  defended  several 
errors." 

Denck's  life  became  one  of  much  misery.  He  had 
to  leave  his  family  and  spend  much  of  his  time  with 
such  who  were  much  beneath  him  in  ability  and  char- 
acter. His  ability  would  have  opened  flattering  posi- 
tions to  him  if  he  had  been  willing  to  compromise  his 
conscience  in  order  to  return  to  the  party  in  power. 
For  such  a  step  his  nature  was  too  fundamentally 
truthful.  He  soon  became  the  victim  of  base  slanders 
which  unfortunately  have  been  handed  down  as  facts. 
A  man  who  could  convince  Hans  Hut  that  the  Mun- 
sterites  were  wrong  in  opposing  the  magistracy  was 
not  the  kind  of  character  that  the  enemies  of  Denck 
tried  to  make  him  appear.     This  resorting  to  slander 


48  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

seems  to  have  been  a  favorite  means  among  persecu- 
tors at  that  time,  but  it  was  especially  severe  in 
Denck's  case  and  especially  hard  for  him  to  bear  be- 
cause of  his  temperament.  His  behavior  under  these 
trying  circumstances  is  characteristic  of  the  man  and 
an  honor  to  the  conception  of  religion  with  which  he 
allied  himself.  '*Ich  bin  dermassen  von  etlichen  ver- 
sagt  und  verklagt  worden,  dass  es  auch  einem  sanften 
und  demiitigen  Herzen  schwer  moglich  ist,  sich  im 
Zaum  zu  halten.  Es  ist  mir  vieles  unbillig  zugemes- 
sen  worden  .  .  .  Gleichwohl  tut  es  mir  in  meinem  Her- 
zen wehe,  dass  ich  mit  manchem  Menschen  in  Un- 
einigkeit  stehen  soil,  den  ich  doch  nicht  anders  erken- 
nen  kann  als  meinen  Bruder,  dieweil  er  eben  den  Gott 
anbetet,  den  ich  anbete,  und  eben  den  Vater  ehrt,  den 
ich  ehre  .  .  .  Darum  will  ich  (so  Gott  will)  soviel  an 
mir  liegt  meinen  Bruder  nicht  zu  einem  Widersacher 
und  meinen  Vater  nicht  zu  einem  Richter  haben,  son- 
dern  mich  inmittelst  mit  alien  meinen  Widersachern 
versohnen  .  .  .  Ich  bitte  meine  Feinde  um  Gottes  wil- 
len,  dass  sie  mir  verzeihen,  was  ich  ohne  mein  Wissen 
und  ohne  meinen  Willen  wider  sie  getan  habe.  Erbiete 
mich  auch  daneben  alien  Unfug,  Schaden  oder  Schan- 
de,  so  mir  etwa  von  ihnen  widerfahren  ware,  ninimer- 
mehr  zu  rachen."  Such  was  the  mind  of  the  man  who 
was  banned  and  persecuted  because  his  life  and  his 
opinions  were  a  condemnation  of  the  lives  of  those 
who  were  in  power. 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  49 

During  this  time  of  exile  Denck  used  every  oppor- 
tunity for  study  and  for  writing.  This  made  his  ban- 
ishment easier  for  him  and  gave  him  an  opportunity 
to  provide  Hterature  for  the  cause  he  represented. 

For  a  while  he  found  refuge  at  St.  Gall,  where  he 
published  his  first  booklet,  "Wer  die  Wahrheit  wahr- 
lich  lieb  hat,  mag  sich  darin  priifen,  in  Erkenntnis 
seines  Glaubens,  und  dass  sich  niemand  in  ihm  selbst 
erhebe,  sondern  wisse,  von  wem  er  Weisheit  bitten 
und  empfangen  soil."  He  was  highly  regarded  at 
St.  Gall  until  he  became  intimate  with  the  Anabaptists. 

We  next  find  him  at  Augsburg,  where  he  was  bap- 
tized by  Hubmeier  and  thus  formally  joined  the  Ana- 
baptists. Influential  friends  secured  a  teaching  posi- 
tion for  him.  He  was  the  kind  of  man  who  was  needed 
at  Augsburg  for  conditions  were  even  worse  there 
than  they  had  been  at  Niirnberg.  Denck  entered  these 
conditions  with  high  ideals  and  with  a  keen  desire  to 
help  make  them  better.  He  was  deeply  moved  by  the 
condition  in  which  he  found  the  poor  people  and  he 
did  all  he  could  for  them.  The  addition  of  his  influence 
caused  a  very  rapid  increase  in  the  number  of  the  Ana- 
baptists. He  succeeded  in  winning  two  monks,  Sieg- 
mund  Salminger  and  Jacob  Dachser.  These  seem  to 
have  been  able  men  for  they  were  soon  made  deacons 
of  the  community  and  both  became  the  writers  of 
hymns. 


50  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

Most  of  the  members  continued  to  come  from  the 
lower  classes  but  the  number  from  the  upper  classes 
also  increased  with  the  acquisition  of  able  leaders  such 
as  Denck.  Denck  was  not  by  nature  adapted  to  be 
the  organizer  of  a  new  movement  but  he  was  a  very 
valuable  member  for  the  same  because  of  his  unusual 
ability.  This  fact  was  also  recognized  by  the  enemies 
of  the  Anabaptists  and  they  were  not  slow  in  getting 
rid  of  Denck.  Urbanus  Rhegius,  one  of  Denck's  worst 
enemies,  said  of  him :  *'Dencks  Wirken  hat  bald  um 
sich  gefressen  wie  der  Krebs,  zu  vieler  Seelen  jammer- 
lichen  Schaden.  Die  Schlange  hat  sich  im  Paradiese 
der  neuen  Kirche  festgesetzt."  Such  an  attitude  on 
the  part  of  Rhegius  and  others  soon  made  it  necessary 
for  Denck  to  leave  Augsburg  and  he  went  to  Strass- 
burg  in  the  fall  of  1526  because  the  Reformers  at  that 
place  took  a  more  irenic  attitude  toward  the  Anabap- 
tists. 

At  Strassburg,  Denck  found  Capito  and  Bucer. 
For  a  while  these  took  a  friendly  attitude  toward  him, 
but  when  his  influence  made  even  Lutheran  leaders, 
e.  g.  Matheus  Zell,  become  intimate  with  the  Anabap- 
tists, Bucer  became  suspicious  and,  following  Zwing- 
li's  method,  got  the  magistrates  on  his  side.  (For  evi- 
dences of  Zell's  friendly  attitude  cf.  Keller,  Ein  Apo- 
stel  der  Wiedertaufer,  p.  158.)  Bucer  ordered  a  dispu- 
tation with  Denck.  Denck  readily  followed  the  order 
of  the  magistrate  little  suspecting  that  this  was  but  a 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  51 

ruse.  On  the  next  day  he  received  his  orders  to  leave 
the  city.  Capito  had  been  present  at  the  disputation 
but  had  said  nothing.  He  soon  afterward- declared  his 
allegiance  to  Zwingly  in  a  fashion  very  unbecoming  to 
a  man  in  his  position.  (Cf.  Keller,  Ein  Apostel  der 
Wiedertaufer,  pp.  161  and  164f¥.)  Bucer  had  been  a 
Dominican  monk  and  was  well  trained  in  such  tactics. 
Capito  had  shown  more  conscience  but  was  weak,  as 
is  shown  by  his  practical  betrayal  of  Denck  toward 
whom  he  had  often  shown  such  friendliness  when 
there  was  no  danger  involved.  Denck  was  deeply 
grieved  by  this  attitude  of  Capito  and  seems  to  have 
had  quite  a  fight  against  utter  discouragement  as  a  re- 
sult of  this  fickleness  on  the  part  of  a  supposed  friend, 
but  he  rallied  and  met  this  new  and  crushing  defeat 
and  banishment  in  a  pathetically  beautiful  spirit.  He 
did  not  return  evil  for  evil  but  in  the  dead  of  winter 
set  his  face  toward  new  wanderings  and  hardships. 
He  never  replied  to  the  cowardly  accusations  made 
against  him,  but  he  did  write  soon  after  that  such 
treatment  made  it  difficult  for  even  a  mild  heart  to 
contain  itself.  These  experiences  no  doubt  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  his  later  tendency  toward  melan- 
choly. 

While  men  were  writing  calumnious  warnings 
against  Denck  he  was  writing  an  admonition  to  all 
men  to  love  every  one,  even  their  adversaries.  The 
contrast  in  these  literary  products,  resulting  from  the 


52  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

same  historical  tacts,  shows  the  diiTerence  in  the  char- 
acters of  the  authors. 

Denck  went  to  Worms  where  he  found  the  Ana- 
baptists represented  in  such  numbers  that  the  magis- 
trates feared  to  act  arbitrarily  toward  them.  He  used 
his  leisure  by  joining  Ludwig  Hetzer  in  a  translation 
of  the  prophetic  books  of  the  Old  Testament  into  the 
German.  Their  translation  passed  thru  many  editions 
(15  in  13  years)  and  was  freely  used  in  later  transla- 
tions. Luther  praised  it  highly  and  probably  used  it, 
until  he  found  out  its  source,  and  then  he  condemned 
it! 

Denck's  leisure  at  Worms  was  of  short  duration. 
The  rapid  growth  of  the  Anabaptist  movement  led  to 
disputations  which  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  leave 
Worms  in  June  of  1527,  In  September  of  the  same 
year  we  find  him  at  Augsburg  where  he  presided  over 
the  Synod  of  the  Austrian  Anabaptists.  There  were 
about  sixty  present.  Among  these  were  Hut,  Hetzer, 
Faeber  and  Hubmaier.  This  synod  did  fundamental 
work  for  the  Anabaptists  of  Southern  Germany.  This 
synod  became  known  as  the  ''Martyrs'  Synod"  because 
a  majority  of  the  members  later  lost  their  lives  for  the 
cause  which  they  had  represented  at  Augsburg. 

After  the  adjournment  of  the  synod  the  various 
members  were  sent  as  emissaries  to  the  different 
churches.  Denck  was  sent  to  Switzerland,  but  when 
he  reached  Basel  his  constitution  gave  way  under  the 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  53 

strain.  The  magistrates  had  but  recently  issued  a  de- 
cree forbidding  the  giving  of  any  aid  to  the  Anabap- 
tists. This  placed  the  dying  Denck  into  a  predica- 
ment. In  his  straits  he  wrote  to  his  former  teacher, 
Oecolampadius  who  nobly  responded  by  a  personal 
visit  and,  seeing  that  Denck's  days  were  counted, 
cared  for  him.  He  also  attempted  to  persuade  Denck 
to  give  up  his  views.  Denck  wrote  a  summary  of  his 
beliefs  which  has  frequently  been  treated  as  a  refuta- 
tion of  his  former  position,  but  the  attending  circum- 
stances make  its  validity  as  such  appear  rather  doubt- 
ful to  many  careful  writers. 

Denck  died  before  the  end  of  the  year,  much  com- 
forted in  his  declining  days  by  his  good  conscience 
and  deeply  grieved  because  of  the  deplorable  condi- 
tions which  he  had  seen  in  the  world  during  his  short 
sojourn  therein. 

Hans  Denck  is  now  known  principally  among  the 
learned,  but  there  was  a  time  when  he  was  the  source 
of  supreme  inspiration  for  the  masses  of  whom  his 
influence  made  martyrs  of  the  noblest  type. 

Keller  thinks  that  Denck  belongs  to  the  movements 
of  Francke  and  Schwenkfeld  rather  than  that  of  the 
Anabaptists  and  Jones  feels  that  Denck  hardly  belongs 
to  the  Anabaptist  movement,  at  least  not  when  the 
term  Anabaptist  is  used  in  the  loose  sense  in  which  it 
is   often   used.      (For  the  views   here   referred   to   of. 


54  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

Keller,  Ein  Apostel  der  Wiedertaufer,  p.  3,  and  Jones, 
Spiritual  Reformers,  pp.  17ff.)  Such  views  are  not 
surprising.  One  cannot  tell  what  turn  Denck's  rela- 
tions with  the  Anabaptists  might  have  taken  had  he 
lived.  It  is  quite  certain  that  he  would  not  have  sanc- 
tioned some  of  the  things  which  happened  in  later 
Anabaptism,  but  this  might  be  true  of  things  which 
have  occurred  in  the  ranks  of  other  movements  or 
denominations  which  have  been  influenced  by  the 
thinking  of  this  man.  His  own  statement:  "Gott  ist 
mein  Zeuge,  dass  ich  nur  einer  Sekte,  welche  die  Kir- 
che  der  Heiligen  ist,  gut  zu  sein  wiinsche,  wo  sie  auch 
sein  mag",  shows  what  was  his  attitude  toward  all 
religious  organizations.  He  was  concerned  with  the 
right  relationship  with  God  before  he  was  anxious 
about  the  organization.  This  is  also  shown  in  the 
following  statement :  "Hart  ist  fiir  mich  die  Heimat- 
losigkeit  und  driickend,  aber  mehr  noch  driickt  mich 
dies,  dass  meinem  Eifer  der  Erfolg  und  die  Friichte 
so  wenig  entsprechen,  Um  keine  andere  Frucht  ist  es 
mir  zu  tun  (Gott  weiss  es),  als  dass  recht  viele  eines 
Herzens  und  Mundes  Gott,  den  Vater  unseres  Herrn 
Jesu  Christi,  riihmen,  ob  sie  beschnitten  oder  getauft 
sind,  oder  keins  von  beiden.  Denn  ich  bin  ganz  ande- 
rer  Ansicht  als  die,  welche  das  Reich  Gottes  allzusehr 
an  Zeremonien  und  die  Elemente  dieser  Welt  binden, 
wer  sie  auch  sein  mogen."  (Keller,  Ein  Apostel  usw., 
p.  229.)     The  latter  statement  can  be  understood  in 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  55 

various  ways,  and  has  been  so  understood,  but  Denck 
probably  simply  meant  to  emphasize  the  need  of  plac- 
ing the  life  before  the  ordinance  and  symbols. 

The  writer  does  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  tho 
he  desired  to  claim  Denck  for  the  Mennonites  in  the 
sense  that  it  should  be  accepted  as  a  valid  conclusion 
that  Denck  would  have  become  a  Mennonite  in  name 
if  he  had  lived  25  to  30  years  longer.  Denck  is  inclu- 
ded in  the  present  list  because  his  life  and  works 
wielded  a  definite  influence  upon  portions  of  Anabap- 
tism  which  were  later  known  as  Mennonites  and  be- 
cause he  agreed  with  many  of  the  fundamental  beliefs 
of  the  later  Mennonite  Church. 

B.    Michael  Sattler. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  supposed  to  have  been 
the  author  of  the  Schleitheim  Confession,  issued  in 
1527. 

Little  is  known  of  Sattler  except  that  he  was  a 
learned  man  who  had  been  a  monk  but  had  left  the 
Church  in  order  to  join  the  Anabaptist  movement. 
G.  Bossert,  writing  in  the  "Realencyclopaedie  fiir  pro- 
testantische  Theologie  und  Kirche",  says  that  Sattler 
was  born  at  Stauffen  sometime  between  1490  and  1500 
and  that  he  studied  at  Freiburg  and  then  entered  the 
cloister  of  St.  Peter  at  the  same  place.  Sattler  began 
to  study  the  Epistles  of  Paul  in  the  cloister  and  soon 
found   that  the   Way   to   Righteousness   was   another 


:6  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

than  that  which  was  indicated  by  the  Church.  He  was 
an  earnest,  moral  man  and  loathed  the  immoral  lives 
of  the  priests  and  monks.  He  left  the  cloister  and 
married.  Persecutions  had  arisen  and  he  was  forced 
to  leave  his  home.  He  went  to  Switzerland  and  then 
to  Ziirich  where  he  formally  joined  the  Anabaptists. 
Later  he  went  to  Strassburg  where  he  met  Hetzer. 
Here  he  also  met  Capito  and  Bucer.  They  were 
friendly  but  the  three  never  came  to  an  agreement 
with  each  other.  This  was  reason  enough  why  he 
should  leave  Strassburg  and  therefore  he  went  to  Aus- 
tria where  Reublin  was  at  work  and  helped  him.  It 
was  here  that  he  wrote  the  seven  articles  which  have 
become  known  as  the  Schleitheim  Confession.  He  sent 
copies  of  these  to  the  adherents  of  the  movement  at 
various  places.  He  also  strove  for  a  church  which 
should  consist  of  converted  people  only.  This  brot 
him  into  difficulties  with  the  Swiss  libertinism.  He 
organized  his  Church  on  such  a  basis  that  it  might  call 
and  dismiss  its  pastor.  This  gave  the  Church  the  con- 
trol of  the  situation  at  all  times.  This  was  especially 
advantageous  for  the  individual  communities  in  times 
of  persecution  when  they  were  likely  to  lose  their 
leaders  suddenly. 

On  his  return  from  a  trip  Sattler  was  captured  with 
a  number  of  others.  Some  of  these  escaped,  but  he 
was  incarcerated  with  his  wife.  Unfortunately  the 
authorities  had  also  captured  all  of  his  correspondence. 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  57 

They  found  it  difficult  to  convict  him  and  the  means 
which  they  used  were  attrocious  in  the  highest  degree. 
He  was  finally  tortured  to  death  on  May  21,  1527,  and 
his  heroic  wife  was  drowned  in  the  Neckar  two  days 
later.  During  his  captivity  he  succeeded  in  sending 
his  "Trostbrief  an  die  Gemeinde  Gottes".  (For  a  copy 
of  this  cf.  Martyrerspiegel,  Part  II,  pp.  5ff.  His  Con- 
fession of  Faith  and  the  account  of  his  trial  and  exe- 
cution are  also  to  be  found  in  the  same  work,  pp.  3ff.) 

The  death  of  this  man  was  a  heavy  loss  to  the 
Anabaptists,  especially  because  of  his  ability  and  his 
character.  These  qualities  were  recognized  even  by 
his  enemies.  Bucer  called  him  "a  dear  friend  of  God 
even  though  he  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Ana- 
baptists". Capito  wrote  the  magistracy  ten  days  after 
Sattler's  execution :  *'Obwohl  Michael  Sattler  etwas 
Irrung  im  Wort  gehabt  und  die  Unterweisung  der 
Pradikanten  zu  wenig  beherzigt,  da  er  bei  denen,  wel- 
che  Christen  sein  woUten,  ein  argerliches  Leben  be- 
fand,  so  hat  er  doch  allemal  einen  trefflichen  Eifer  zur 
Ehre  Gottes  und  der  Gemeinde  Christi  bewiesen,  von 
der  er  wollte,  dass  sie  fromm,  ehrbar,  rein  von  Lastern, 
unanstossig  und  den  Draussenstehenden  ein  Vorbild 
zur  Besserung  durch  gottseligen  Wandel  sein  sollte 
usw." 

One  wonders  that  these  men  made  such  confessions 
after  the  almost  indescribable  treatment  accorded  by 
their  own  people  to  the  man  whom  the}^  thus  lauded. 


58  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

Surely  there  is  nothing  so  strangely  inexplicable  as 
the  inconsistencies  of  man's  inhumanity  to  man. 

C.   Ludwig  Haetzer  (Hetzer). 

Ludwig  Hetzer  is  justly  looked  upon  as  one  of  the 
important  Anabaptist  leaders  of  Southern  Germany. 
His  ancestors  are  said  to  have  been  Waldenses.  He 
had  received  a  thoro  training  and  had  joined  the 
Anabaptists  because  the  Reformation  of  Luther  and 
Zwingli  did  not  satisfy  him.  He  associated  with  Denck 
and  Sattler  and  shared  his  labors  with  them.  He  and 
Denck  made  the  translation  of  the  Prophetic  Books 
to  which  reference  was  made  in  the  Sketch  on  Denck. 
These  three  men  labored  together  in  various  places 
and  their  work  was  crowned  with  almost  phenomenal 
success,  and  with  bitter  persecutions !  They  advocated 
a  reformation  on  the  basis  of  the  Apostolic  Church 
and  in  doing  so  met  with  a  hearty  response  on  the 
part  of  the  common  people,  especially  after  they  saw 
that  the  organizations  of  Luther  and  Zwingli  promised 
to  do  little  more  than  the  Roman  Church  had  done. 

At  Strassburg  Jakob  Gross  had  organized  a  church. 
He  taught  that  children  should  not  be  baptized  and 
that  adults  should  be  baptized  only  on  confession  of 
faith  ;  that  there  should  be  no  swearing  of  oaths ;  that 
the  sword  should  not  be  used  in  matters  of  faith,  either 
against  the  magistracy  or  against  a  neighbor.  Gross 
was  tried  and  testified  that  he  would  obey  the  magis- 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  59 

tracy  but  would  not  kill  any  one  as  there  was  no  com- 
mandment of  God  to  that  effect.  (Cf.  Brons,  Ursprung 
usw.,  pp.  408-9,  for  Hetzer's  confessions  before  the  au- 
thorities on  the  question  of  obedience  to  the  magis- 
tracy.) Gross  was  banned  from  Strassburg  and  Sattler 
took  his  place.  Denck  and  Hetzer  became  his  associ- 
ates and  the  three  worked  with  such  success  that  the 
clergy  became  alarmed  and  demanded  a  disputation. 
The  results  were  never  published  but  the  three  men 
were  banned  from  the  city.  (For  a  copy  of  the  mandate 
banning  them  cf.  Brons,  Ursprung  usw.,  pp.  409-10.) 
In  accordance  with  their  principles,  to  obey  the  magis- 
tracy in  all  things  not  contrary  to  the  will  of  God,  they 
left  the  city  and  went  to  Worms  without  having  re- 
belled against  the  established  order  of  things  or  at- 
tempted to  defend  themselves. 

At  Worms  Hetzer,  Denck  and  Sattler  spent  their 
leisure  time  in  writing  until  Luther's  jealousy  and  his 
denunciations  from  the  pulpit  started  new  persecu- 
tions. One  of  the  Lutheran  clergy  had  joined  the 
Anabaptists  (here  usually  called  Apostolic  Brethren, 
as  they  preferred).  This  aroused  such  a  storm  of  op- 
position to  the  Anabaptists  that  there  was  a  schism 
introduced  into  the  ranks  of  the  Evangelical  Church. 
The  people  would  no  longer  stand  for  the  radical  meth- 
ods of  the  leaders.  This  condition  of  affairs  gave  the 
Roman  Catholics  an  opportunity  and  they  were  not 
slow  in   making  use   of  it.     Luther  appealed   to   the 


60  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

magistrates  for  help  and  wreaked  his  vengeance  upon 
the  Anabaptists,  whom  he  blamed  for  the  whole  trou- 
ble, as  usual.  The  three  men  who  "caused  him  the 
trouble"  in  this  case  soon  ceased  their  activities  for 
Sattler  was  burned  in  1527;  Denck  died  a  few  months 
later  and  Hetzer  was  killed  in  1529. 

Serious  charges  were  preferred  against  Hetzer's 
morality,  but  when  one  notes  the  sources  and  thinks 
of  his  protracted  association  with  men  of  the  character 
of  Denck  and  Sattler,  one  is  inclined  to  take  these 
charges  with  some  moderation.  Even  tho  it  were  true 
that,  for  a  time,  he  had  been  a  child  of  his  age  or  had 
had  his  moral  lapses,  he  certainly  showed  thru  his 
work  as  a  translator  and  as  an  itinerant  preacher- 
pastor  that  he  was  also  capable  of  better  things  and 
that  he  was  willing  to  suffer  persecution  and  death 
for  the  latter  at  a  time  when  the  temptations  on  the 
other  side  must  have  been  exceedingly  great. 

D.    Melchior  Hoffmann. 

Melchior  Hoffmann  came  from  Suabia.  He  was 
an  imposing  character  and  a  morally  clean  man.  By 
trade  he  was  a  leather-dresser.  His  educational  ad- 
vantages had  probably  been  limited  but  he  had  a  very 
thoro  knowledge  of  the  Bible  and  knew  how  to  use  it 
with  great  effect  in  public  assemblies. 

Hoffmann  joined  Zwingli's  movement  and  re- 
mained with  it  for  6  years,  altho  Zwingli  seems  to  have 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  6V 

disliked  him  and  to  have  caused  him  to  flee.     Zwingli 
referred  to  him  as  "Der  Taugenichts,  der  Leder  gerbt". 

Hoffmann  agreed  with  the  Anabaptists  on  only  a 
few  points,  and  on  some  of  these  only  partly,  but  his 
power  over  the  masses  helped  to  swell  the  ranks  of 
the  new  movement.  In  a  way  it  was  a  misfortune  for 
the  movement  because  he,  perhaps  unintentionally, 
but  really,  played  into  the  hands  of  the  Miinster  move- 
ment and  thus  helped  increase  the  hatred  against  any- 
thing, known  as  Anbaptism.  This  fact  made  some  of 
the  Anabaptists   return   to  the   Reformed  movement. 

The  same  conditions  which  caused  Denck,  Sattler 
and  Hetzer  to  work  constructively  among  the  masses, 
made  this  untutored  man  go  into  a  kind  of  Apocalyptic 
frenzy.  A  detailed  study  of  Daniel  12  increased  this 
tendency.  His  exegesis  of  this  chapter  was  quite  er- 
ratic on  the  whole  and  yet,  it  contains  a  surprising 
amount  of  valuable  material.  (Cf.  Brons,  Ursprung 
usw.,  pp.  376-7.) 

Hoffmann  spent  some  time  in  Denmark  where  he 
enjoyed  the  king's  favor  for  a  while.  This  aroused  the 
jealousy  of  the  clergy  and  they  succeeded  in  having 
him  driven  out  because  he  would  not  say  that  the 
"actual  body  of  Christ"  was  in  the  Lord's  Supper! 
He  went  to  Strassburg  where  he  found  favorable  con- 
ditions for  his  kind  of  propaganda.  There  he  met 
Sebastian  Franck  and  Kasper  Schwenkfeld.     He  was 

2 


62  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

on  friendly  terms  with  these  "noble  and  godly  men" 
and  came  to  recognition  thru  them. 

Bucer  and  Hoffmann  agreed  in  their  views  on  the 
Lord's  Supper  but  not  on  the  magistracy,  in  which 
the  latter  followed  Denck,  Sattler  and  Hetzer.  This 
so  aroused  Bucer's  ire  that  Hoffmann  had  to  flee  to 
Emden,  which  was  then  the  only  place  in  the  Roman 
Empire  where  "Anabaptists"  were  not  persecuted. 

Hoffmann  had  only  recently  been  baptized  and 
thus  formally  joined  the  Anabaptist  movement,  but 
he  rose  rapidly  in  the  estimation  of  the  Church  at 
Emden  and  seems  to  have  been  given  a  great  deal  of 
liberty.  He  baptized  300  people  within  a  short  time. 
Even  the  count  came  to  hear  him  and  was  moved  to 
tears  by  his  preaching.  The  count  was  so  favorably 
impressed  that  the  opposition  of  the  Lutheran  clergy 
against  Hoffmann  had  no  effect  upon  him  until  some 
of  Hoffmann's  meetings  had  led  to  riots  against  the 
latter's  wishes,  for  he  said:  "Wer  mit  dem  Schwert 
ficht,  wird  mit  dem  Schwert  gerichtet,  wo  sie  nicht 
mit  herzlichem  Leid  wiederkehren ;  denn  der  Christ, 
welcher  voll  des  Glaubens  ist,  thut  niemand  Boses,  ist 
auch  kein  Vergelter  des  Uebels :  'Mir  gehort  die  Ra- 
che,  ich  will  vergelten  Gutes  und  Boses'."  This  atti- 
tude is  further  emphasized  by  his  statement  concern- 
ing the  Christian's  attitude  toward  the  magistracy: 
"Soil   man   ihr   nicht  gehorsam   sein?    Du   soUst   sie 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  63 

fiirchten,  wenn  du  Boses  thust,  aber  wenn  du  Gute>'' 
thust,  nicht.  Du  sollst  ihr  auch  im  Guten,  das  nicht 
wider  Gott  ist,  gehorsam  sein.  Waren  lauter  Christen 
in  der  Welt,  so  wiarde  man  des  Schwerts  nicht  be- 
diirfen.  Da  aber  das  nicht  ist,  so  muss  das  Schwert 
Gottes  Dienerin  sein ;  es  soil  aber  allein  bei  den  Uebel- 
tatern  gebraucht  werden."  (For  further  expressions 
on  the  magistracy  cf.  Brons,  Ursprung  usw.,  pp.  399- 
400.) 

Finally  the  enemies  succeeded  in  getting  the  count 
to  issue  a  decree  commanding  "all  Anabaptists  to  leave 
his  domains  in  East  Friesland  by  March  2nd,  or  forfeit 
life  and  property".  This  caused  Hoffmann  to  return 
to  Strassburg,  from  whence  he  seems  to  have  taken 
occasional  tours  into  various  parts  of  Germany  be- 
tween 1530  and  1533.  Increasing  pressure  on  the  part 
of  the  enemies  seems  to  have  intensified  his  Chiliastic 
and  Apocalyptic  tendencies  to  a  point  where  it  became 
an  open  question  whether  he  was  not  temporarily  in- 
sane, as  Brons  suggests.  One  can  hardly  account  for 
the  sudden  changes  of  view-point  on  any  other  suppo- 
sition. One  is  not  surprised  at  this  when  the  attending 
circumstances  are  taken  into  account.  The  inhuman 
cruelties  and  the  kaleidoscopic  disharmonies  in  al- 
most every  sphere ;  the  natural  calamities,  e.  g.  floods, 
forest  fires,  diseases,  etc.,  made  it  very  easy  for  the 
people  to  conclude  that  the  end  of  the  world  must  be 
near  at  hand  and  gave  a  man  like  Hoffmann  both  a 


64  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

mighty  influence  and  an  occasion  for  becoming  more 
erratic. 

Hoffmann  continued  to  agree  with  the  Anabaptists 
that  one's  faith  must  be  proven  by  the  Scriptures 
rather  than  by  creeds  and  in  his  conception  of  the 
Church.  He  says :  '-Gottes  Gemeinde  weiss  von  kei- 
nem  andern  Herrn  und  Fiirsten  als  Christum.  Sie 
kann  keinen  andern  leiden,  denn  es  ist  ein  Schwester- 
und  Bruderwerk.  Die  Lehrer  haben  kein  Haupt,  der 
sie  im  Geiste  regiert,  als  Christum.  Die  Lehrer  und 
Diener  sind  nicht  Herren.  Die  Hirten  haben  nicht 
mehr  Gewalt  denn  Gottes  Wort  zu  predigen  und  die 
Siinde  zu  strafen.  Ein  Bischof  soil  aus  der  Gemeinde 
gewahlt  werden."  He  desired  a  spiritually  independent 
Church  and  said  that  he  wished  that  it  might  be  com- 
posed of  members  all  of  whom  were  spiritually  far 
enough  advanced  to  be  able  to  prophesy. 

Some  of  Hoffmann's  views  were  dangerous  ma- 
terial in  the  hands  of  adventurous  spirits  and  cast  an 
unfortunate  reflection  upon  his  character  and  upon  the 
Anabaptists.  Strangely  enough  this  very  man  was 
able  to  build  up  a  strong  church  in  the  midst  of  the 
turmoil  which  surrounded  him.  There  was  a  time 
when  he  might  have  had  a  share  of  the  property  which 
had  belonged  to  the  Roman  Church,  but  he  refused  to 
accept  it,  unlike  those  who  later  persecuted  him. 

Hoffmann  seems  to  have  been  unfortunate  in  some 
ways,  e.  g.  in  the  selection  of  his  successor  and  in  the 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  65 

way  he  expressed  himself  at  times.  When  he  said  at 
Kiel :  "Wir  miissen  uns  einigen,  sonst  wird  es  viel 
mehr  Blut  kosten,  als  es  bereits  gekostet  hat,"  he 
seems  to  have  meant  his  statement  as  an  argument  for 
closer  union  in  order  to  prevent  the  Roman  Catholics 
from  getting  an  undue  opportunity  and  not  as  a  Miin- 
sterite  threat,  as  was  claimed  by  some. 

Hoffmann's  views  on  the  Incarnation  were  at  va- 
riance with  those  of  the  Anabaptists,  as  well  as  with 
those  of  the  Protestants.  He  taught  that  Christ  had 
passed  thru  Mary  as  the  sun's  rays  pass  thru  glass. 
His  reason  for  this  view  seems  to  have  been  that  he 
could  not  conceive  of  Christ  as  the  child  of  human 
parentage  because  of  original  sin  (Erbsiinde). 

Hoffmann's  career  was  interrupted  by  his  imprison- 
ment in  1533.  He  had  predicted  his  imprisonment  as 
a  part  of  the  Apocalyptic  program  which  was  about 
to  be  enacted.  The  effect  upon  the  masses  was  both 
pitiful  and  tragic.  His  changes  of  attitude  and  many 
of  his  expressions  at  this  time  indicate  that  his  mind 
had  become  unbalanced.  This  did  not  alter  the  result 
of  his  influence  which  came  to  its  fruitage  in  the  Miin- 
ster  uprising.  He  broke  with  the  Anabaptists  on  very 
salient  points,  c.  g.  the  attitude  toward  the  magistracy 
and  the  taking  up  of  arms  on  account  of  faith. 

Before  his  death  Hoffman  made  a  "Confession"  of 
which  Bucer  made  much  use.     Brons  refuses  to  take 


66  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

the  ''Confession"  seriously  because  the  original  was 
never  produced. 

Hoffmann's  treatment  while  in  prison  was  such 
that  Kasper  Schwenkfeld  wrote  a  very  pointed  letter 
to  Leo  Judae  about  the  matter.  (For  a  copy  cf.  Brons, 
Ursprung  usw.,  pp.  404-5.)  Schwenkfeld  did  not  agree 
with  Hoffmann  in  many  points,  nor  did  he  want  to 
slight  Bucer,  but  a  common  human  interest  made  it 
necessary  to  protest  very  decidedly. 

When  Hoffmann  heard  of  the  fearful  conditions  at 
Miinster  he  probably  felt  as  had  Luther  on  the  Wart- 
burg.  Not  being  able  to  go  in  person  he  wrote  fiercely 
against  the  oppressors.  This  only  added  fuel  to  the 
flames  of  the  persecution  and  odium  to  the  name  of 
tne  Anabaptists,  altho  he  had  practically  broken  with 
tne  latter. 

Hoffmann's  life,  in  spite  of  his  eccentricities,  was 
one  of  much  importance  to  the  Anabaptists.  He  helped 
to  crystallize  the  meaning  of  the  movement  in  the 
minds  of  both  friend  and  foe.  His  eccentricities 
showed  to  the  leaders  that  a  more  definite  organization 
was  necessary  and  the  disapproval  of  these  eccentrici- 
ties by  representative  leaders  of  the  movement  made 
outsiders  see  more  clearly  that  there  was  a  real  distinc- 
tion between  "Anabaptists"  and  Anabaptists. 

For  the  purposes  of  the  present  work  the  life  and 
work  of  Hoffmann  are  of  value  largely  for  the  con- 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  67 

trasts   which   they   furnish   and   have   been   given   so 
much  space  for  that  reason. 

E.    Konrad  Grebel. 

Konrad  Grebel  was  born  at  Zurich  during  the  last 
decade  of  the  15th  century.  His  father  was  a  man  of 
social  rank  and  a  member  of  the  Ziirich  Council.  Kon- 
rad was  educated  at  the  universities  of  Vienna  and 
Paris.  He  ranked  high  in  scholarship  but  led  a  dissi- 
pated life. 

Grebel  was  an  ardent  supporter  of  Zwingli  until 
they  differed,  apparently  on  the  question  of  infant 
baptism.  Zwingli  thot  highly  of  him  during  the 
period  of  their  co-operation  and  described  him  as 
"most  studious,  most  candid,  most  learned".  Grebel 
was  converted  about  1522  and  thereafter  led  a  life  of 
"perfect  rectitude  and  piety".  He  turned  to  a  careful 
study  of  the  New  Testament  and  got  from  this  a  new 
conception  of  the  purposes  of  the  Church.  Zwingli 
opposed  him  on  this  point,  altho  there  may  have  been 
other  reasons  why  he  turned  against  young  Grebel. 
There  seems  to  have  been  jealousy  between  the  two 
families.  Perhaps  because  of  Zwingli's  lower  rank 
socially.  This  fact  may  also  help  to  account  for 
Zwingli's  inexcusable  conduct  toward  the  elder  Grebel 
whom  he  had  beheaded  on  suspicion  that  he  was  ac- 
cepting a  pension  from  the  Roman  Catholic  authori- 
ties. This  act  caused  Zwingli  much  trouble  for  it  made 


68  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

the  people  suspicious  of  the  kind  of  justice  they  were 
likely  to  get  from  such  a  judge.  This  made  him  at- 
tempt to  justify  his  act  in  a  letter  to  Oecolampadius, 
Capito  and  other  friends  at  Strassburg.  He  seems  to 
have  feared  that  the  act  would  harm  his  reputation. 
He  did  not  succeed  very  well  with  his  justification 
because  the  people  knew  that  the  Grebels  were  as 
much  opposed  to  the  pensions  as  Zwingli  professed 
to  be.'  The  result  was  that  a  number  of  Zwingli's 
own  followers  became  decidedly  dissatisfied  on  ac- 
count of  his  rash  act. 

The  execution  of  his  father  so  weakened  young 
Grebel,  whose  health  had  not  been  good  for  some  time 
anyway,  that  he  died  soon  thereafter.  He  has  often 
been  accused  for  having  acted  and  spoken  rashly. 
This  may  be  true  and  it  would  be  surprising  if  he  had 
not  done  so.  His  enemies  naturally  made  use  of  every 
semblance  of  rashness  on  his  part. 

Grebel  did  not  make  any  original  contribution  to  the 
Anabaptist  creed.  He  accepted  what  he  found  and  em- 
phasized it  in  his  own  way,  tho  with  more  intelligence 
than  a  less  tutored  man  would  have  done.  He  opposed 
the  defense  of  the  Gospel  with  the  sword  and  believed 
that  real  Christians  should  be  as  sheep  among  wolves 
rather  than  conduct  themselves  as  did  the  Miinsterites. 
This  and  other  expressions  of  Grebel  are  found  in  his 
letter  to  Thomas  Munzer,  written  September  5,  1524. 
(A  copy  of  this  letter  is  found  in  "Geschichte  des  Miin- 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  69 

sterischen  Aufruhrs,  Zweites  Buch,  Die  Wiedertaufer", 
pp.  240-249.— C.  A.  Cornelius.) 

F.    Felix  Manz. 

Felix  Manz  was  called  a  first-rate  Hebrew  scholar. 
He  was  a  man  of  considerable  evangelistic  ability  and 
possessed  a  great  deal  of  enthusiasm.  He  was  the  first 
among  the  Swiss  Anabaptists  to  suffer  martyrdom  for 
their  cause.  He  had  brot  hundreds,  and  perhaps  thou- 
sands, into  their  ranks  during  the  short  time  allotted 
him  for  his  labors.  He  worked  much  with  Grebel  and 
Blaurock.  They  were  frequently  asked  as  to  their 
position  and  frankly  confessed  that  they  had  begun 
baptizing  on  confession  of  faith  and  were  partaking 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  in  their  Brotherhood ;  that  they 
were  opposed  to  the  exactions  of  usury  and  the  tithe 
on  the  part  of  the  authorities  and  that  they  considered 
all  war  as  not  allowed  for  Christians.  The  latter  point 
was  objected  to  by  Zwingli,  especially  because  he  was 
then  preparing  to  wage  war  against  some  of  his  Cath- 
olic neighbors. 

The  three  men  were  tried.  Grebel  soon  died : 
Blaurock  was  whipped  out  of  the  city  and  Manz  was 
condemned  to  be  drowned  because  he  had  baptized 
"contrary  to  the  Christian  order  (Ordnung)";  "had 
solicited  followers  for  his  views ;  had  denounced  cap- 
ital punishment  and  had  claimed  specific  revelations 
for    himself",    thru    all    of    which    "he    had    disturbed 


70  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

the  brotherly  unity".  His  possessions  were  confisca- 
ted by  the  government  and  on  January  25,  1527,  the 
executioner  rowed  down  the  Limmat  with  this  victim 
of  Protestant  rule  carried  out  in  the  spirit  of  Roman 
Catholic  heresy-hunting.  A  Reformed  clergyman  at- 
tempted to  induce  Manz  to  recant  while  his  mother 
and  brothers  were  encouraging  him  from  the  receding 
shores.  After  having  prayed,  "Domine,  in  manus  tuas 
commando  spiritum  meum,"  he  disappeared  beneath 
the  waves  of  the  small  lake  which  was  surrounded  by 
such  beautiful  scenery,  but  by  no  means  ideal  condi: 
tions  in  the  realm  of  spiritual  matters.  This  execution 
was  but  the  beginning  of  a  long  list  of  atrocities  com- 
mitted against  those  who  wanted  to  live  according  to 
the  dictates  of  their  consciences,  guided  by  the  Holy 
vScriptures,  a  people  who  wanted  to  acknowledge  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  Head  of  the  Church  thru  life  rather  than 
thru  profession.  These  were  persecuted  by  such  who 
made  the  profession  but  who  wanted  no  stirring  up  of 
their  consciences  on  the  question  of  living  up  to  the 
same. 

G.    Georg  Blaurock. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  also  called  Jacob  of 
Chur.  He  joined  the  Brethren  (Anabaptists)  in  1524 
and  soon  proved  that  he  was  a  strong  accession  to  the 
cause.  He  had  a  powerful  control  of  speech  and  suc- 
ceeded in  convincing  both  old  and  young.   He  was  the 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  71 

man  who  had  actually  introduced  rebaptism  by  re- 
questing Grebel  to  baptize  him.  (For  a  complete  ac- 
count of  this  transaction  cf.  Erbkam,  "Geschichte  der 
protestantischen  Sekten",  p.  527  note.) 

In  spite  of  frequent  imprisonment  he  continued 
preaching  with  great  power  of  conviction  in  such  pla- 
ces as  it  seemed  at  all  safe  to  do  so.  He  was  finally 
captured  again  in  Tyrol  and  was  burned  at  Innsbruck 
September  6,  1529. 

In  popular  parlance  he  was  known  as  "der  starke 
Joerg"  and  as  '*der  zweite  Paulus".  His  enthusiasm 
and  his  power  of  language  made  him  a  strong  leader  of 
the  common  people,  especially  since  he  was  able  to 
perpetuate  his  influence  thru  the  hymns  which  he 
composed,  as  well  as  thru  his  public  addresses.  He 
was  much  feared  by  the  enemies  because,  when  thor- 
oly  aroused  he  did  not  hesitate  to  let  them  feel  his 
sarcasm. 

Blaurock's  contribution  lay  largely  in  the  fact  that 
he  sacrificed  the  positions  which  his  ability  would 
have  given  him  in  order  to  throw  his  great  strength 
and  whole  heart  into  the  cause  of  Anabaptism.  Wedel 
calls  him  "eine  markige  Gestalt".  This  was  the  kind 
of  material  which  the  rough  Alps  furnished  to  the 
Anabaptist  movement.  It  was  not  always  highly  pol- 
ished, but  effective  and  good  at  heart  with  a  disposi- 
tion unalterably  devoted  to  the  Church  of  which  Christ 
was  to  be  the  Head  in  fact,  as  well  as  in  name. 


72  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

H.    Wilhelm  Reublin. 

The  name  of  this  man  appears  in  many  forms,  e.  g. 
Reublin,  Reubel,  Rublin,  Rubli,  Roeublin,  Rouebli, 
Reiblin,  Raebl,  Raebli,  Raebel,  etc. 

Little  is  known  of  Reublin's  early  history.  The 
fact  that  he  requested  Ferdinand  for  permission  to 
avail  himself  of  his  inheritance  at  Rothenburg,  is  taken 
as  evidence  that  his  parents  were  well-to-do. 

He  studied  at  the  universities  of  Freiburg  and  Tii- 
bingen,  but  seems  to  have  been  ordained  to  the  priest- 
hood before  completing  his  course. 

Reublin  boldly  attacked  the  prevailing  corruptions 
and  superstitions.  This  brot  him  very  large  audi- 
ences and  the  enthusiastic  support  of  the  working 
classes.  He  refused  to  carry  relics  in  the  processions 
and  carried  the  Bible  instead  because  he  considered 
the  Bible  a  truly  sacred  thing  whereas  the  relics  were 
but  "dead  bones"  to  him.  Such  ''heresy"  caused  him 
to  be  banished  but  he  continued  preaching  wherever 
he  found  opportunity  to  do  so.  He  broke  his  priestly 
vows  by  marrying.  His  experiences  led  him  to  a  closer 
study  of  the  Scriptures  which  resulted  in  his  beginning 
to  doubt  the  validity  of  infant  baptism.  He  persuaded 
parents  to  withhold  baptism  from  their  infants,  vali- 
antly defended  his  position  at  the  Ziirich  disputation 
on  January  17,  1525,  and  was  among  the  first  to  intro- 
duce  believers'   baptism.     The    resulting   banishment 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  IZ 

sent  him  from  Zurich  to  Waldshut  where  he  met  and 
baptized  Dr.  Balthassar  Hubmaier  and  a  number  of 
others. 

Reubhn  was  widely  known  as  "Pastor  Wilhelm". 
Much  of  his  work  was  itinerant  preaching.  This 
brot  him  into  contact  with  most  of  the  leaders  of  his 
day. 

His  persecutors  finally  made  it  necessary  for  him  to 
seek  refuge  among  the  anti-pedobaptist  Communists 
of  Moravia  where  he  spent  miserable  years  because 
he  was  not  willing  to  place  the  emphasis,  demanded 
by  his  hosts,  upon  communism.  His  declining  years 
are  pathetic  because  he  was  an  able  man  without  a 
field  of  labor  and,  of  necessity,  an  object  of  a  kind  of 
charity  which  was  none  too  sweet. 

I.    Pilgram  Marbeck. 

Pilgram  Marbeck,  engineer,  author  and  preacher, 
was  born  about  the  end  of  the  15th  century  and  died  in 
or  near  Augsburg  about  1547.  He  was  brot  up  a 
Roman  Catholic  but  turned  to  Luther's  Reformation 
about  1523.  From  this  he  turned  because  "where 
God's  Word  was  preached  in  the  Lutheran  way  a 
fleshly  freedom  followed  in  its  trail". 

His  skill  as  an  engineer  saved  Marbeck  from  many 
persecutions.  His  religious  views  were  so  pronounced, 
however,  that  even  his  skill  in  practical  affairs  could 
not  stay  the  persecution,  especially  when  he  began  to 


74  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

persuade  the  clergy.  The  publication  of  two  books 
on  his  views  landed  him  in  prison.  At  his  own  request 
he  was  admitted  to  a  disputation  with  Bucer.  A  rec- 
ord of  this  disputation  has  been  kept.  Marbeck  de- 
fended his  position  in  28  articles  with  rare  skill  and 
logical  acumen.  But  it  was  all  useless.  The  council 
was  opposed  to  him  and  therefore  he  was  banished. 
He  went  to  Ulm  and  then  to  Augsburg  where  he  be- 
came the  guiding  spirit  of  the  Anabaptist  movement 
of  the  entire  region. 

In  1542  he  published  another  book:  "Vermahnung, 
auch  ganz  klarer,  griindlicher  und  unwidersprechlicher 
Bericht  zu  wahrer  christlicher  ewig  bestandiger  Bru- 
der-Vereinigung."  This  contained  an  exposition  of 
his  views  on  sin,  hereditary  sin,  baptism,  divine  wor- 
ship, magistracy  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 

The  sending  of  a  copy  of  this  book  to  a  follower 
of  Schwenkfeld  led  to  a  fruitless  and  acrimonious  dis- 
pute with  the  latter  on  the  question  of  water  baptism. 
Aside  from  this  regrettable  incident,  Marbeck  led  a 
highly  respected  life  and,  for  his  time,  had  an  unusu- 
ally long  career  for  an  Anabaptist  leader. 

J.    Dr.  Balthasar  Hubmaier. 

Dr.  Balthasar  Hubmaeier  was  born  of  poor  parents 
near  Augsburg  about  1480.  He  studied  at  Augsburg 
and  at  Freiburg  under  the  famous  Dr.  Eck. 

Hubmaier  was   reared   in   polemical   surroundings 


REPRESENTATIVE  LEADERS  75 

and  showed  the  effect  of  his  training.  He  possessed 
a  strong  pulpit  ability.  After  the  completion  of  his 
studies  he  held  a  professorship  of  theology  at  Ingol- 
stadt  and  later  the  prorectorship  in  the  same  institu- 
tion. A  year  later  he  became  pastor  of  the  cathedral 
at  Regensburg,  where  he  assisted  in  the  uprising 
against  the  Jews,  who  were  hated  because  of  the  way 
in  which  they  exacted  "usury".  He  was  made  priest 
of  the  new  chapel  which  was  erected  at  this  place. 
This  chapel  became  a  place  of  pilgrimage  because  of 
the  supposed  miracles  wrot  by  the  image  of  the  Holy 
Mary  placed  there.  The  nuisance  arising  in  connec- 
tion with  these  "miracles"  did  not  appeal  to  Hubmaier 
and  he  protested.  This  action  caused  his  removal  to 
Waldshut  where  he  became  priest,  and  he  became  a 
popular  priest  because  he  remained  a  conscientious 
Roman  Catholic  and  performed  his  duties  so  faithfully. 
There  was  a  growing  suspicion,  however,  on  his  part 
that  the  Catholic  doctrine  was  not  the  highest  good. 
He  began  reading  the  Bible,  especially  the  Pauline 
epistles,  and  found  himself  inclining  to  emphasize  the 
Holy  Scriptures  as  the  final  authority  and  best  guide. 
He  probably  also  learned  to  respect  the  cause  of  the 
Reformers,  especially  as  he  continued  his  studies  of 
the  Bible.  When  this  conviction  had  once  gained 
ground  in  his  thinking,  it  did  not  take  long  for  Hub- 
maier to  come  out  as  an  open  reformer.  He  found 
himself  in  agreement  with  Zwingli's  earlier  views  on 


Id  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

baptism,  etc.,  and  seems  to  have  remained  loyal  to  him 
until  the  latter  changed  his  views  for  prudential  rea- 
sons. 

The  Roman  Catholic  authorities,  both  ecclesiastical 
and  civil,  soon  brot  all  their  powers  to  bear  upon 
his  destruction.  After  Waldshut  went  over  to  the 
Reformers,  Hubmaier  practically  became  the  dictator 
of  the  religious  and,  to  a  large  extent,  the  political 
policies  of  the  place. 

About  this  time  Hubmaier  came  into  contact  with 
Anabaptist  leaders  such  as  Grebel,  Manz  and  Reublin. 
The  latter  baptized  him  on  Easter  day  of  1525.  This 
aroused  the  animosity  of  Zwingli  who  succeeded  in 
getting  control  of  the  magistrate  and  thus  forcing 
Hubmaier  out. 

It  seems  quite  possible  that  Hubmaier  had  permit- 
ted himself  to  be  influenced  unduly  by  Miinzer  and 
hence  allowed  himself  to  undertake  matters  which 
cast  unjust  reflections  upon  the  Anabaptist  cause  and 
did  unnecessary  harm  to  his  influence  as  a  leader. 

As  a  result  of  the  controversy  with  Zwingli,  Hub- 
maier wrote  two  books :  "Von  dem  christlichen  Tauf 
der  Glaubigen"  and:  "Ein  Gesprach  von  der  Kinder- 
fauf."  These  were  both  published  in  1526.  "The  es- 
sence of  baptism,"  he  maintained,  "is  the  expression  of 
personal  faith  and  of  the  obligation  which  that  faith 
imposes."     He  rejected  the  arguments  deduced  from 


REPRESENTATIVE  LEADERS  11 

the  New  Testament  in  favor  of  infant  baptism  and 
argued  that  "the  practice  was  actually  forbidden  inas- 
much as  it  falls  under  Matt.  15 :13,  which  prohibits 
idolatry.  On  the  other  hand  the  baptism  that  proceeds 
from  conscious  and  acknowledged  faith  is  the  neces- 
sary condition  for  the  existence  of  a  Christian  commu- 
nity." 

Hubmaier  was  in  the  habit  of  closing  his  addresses 
or  paragraphs  in  his  writings  with,  "The  truth  is  im- 
mortal." He  frequently  ofifered  to  discuss  with  his 
opponents  questions  on  which  they  differed  and  al- 
ways showed  himself  willing  to  be  fair-minded,  e.  g. 
in  a  letter  to  Zwingli  on  the  subject  of  Baptism  he 
writes:  "If  I  err,  I  will  gladly  retract;  if  Master  Ul- 
rich  errs,  he  should  not  be  ashamed  to  forsake  his 
error,  for  the  truth  will  ultimately  conquer  him."  He 
frankly  admitted  that  he  might  err,  being  a  man,  but 
declared  that  he  could  not  be  a  heretic  because  he  was 
willing  to  be  taught  better  by  any  one. 

He  sent  repeated  requests  to  the  authorities.  In 
the  third  of  these  he  admonished  them  to  judge  justly. 
He  maintained  that  all  customs  and  traditions  must 
be  subject  to  the  Bible  on  this  point  and  charged  the 
authorities  with  partisanship  in  meting  out  justice. 
He  intimated  that  the  lack  of  confidence  toward  them 
on  the  part  of  the  common  people  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  their  rule  had  too  often  forced  the  latter  to  deal 
contrary  to  their  consciences  and  pointed  out  that  men 


78  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

must  and  will  continue  to  claim  that  one  must  obey 
God  more  than  man.  (Die  dritte  Erbietung  Balthasar 
Hubmaiers  an  den  Rat  zu  Schaffhausen.  September, 
1524.  Signed,  Dr.  Balthasar  Hubmaier  von  Fridberg, 
Pfarrer  zu  Waldshut.  For  copy  of  this  document  cf. 
Loserth,  Dr.  Balhasar  Hubmaier,  pp.  196-200.) 

Hubmaier  looked  upon  the  Mosaic  code  as  a  kind  of 
court  of  final  appeal. 

His  pleas  that  his  former  appeals  be  heeded  are 
pathetic  and  his  protest  that  he  is  innocent  in  the  mat- 
ter of  the  rebellion  at  Waldshut  is  fervent.  He  wanted 
an  opportunity  of  pleading  for  himself  in  public  and 
agreed  not  to  ask  more  of  his  slanderers  than  that  they 
better  themselves,  altho  he  was  willing  to  accept  the 
death  penalty  for  himself  if  found  to  be  in  the  wrong. 

When  Hubmaier  was  tried  for  his  rejection  of  in- 
fant baptism,  he  confessed  that  his  early  doubts  about 
the  Scriptural  authority  of  this  rite  were  confirmed 
by  Zwingli,  Dr.  Bastian,  Oecolampadius  and  others. 
This  is  a  point  of  considerable  interest  for  our  present 
purpose.  We  have  had  frequent  traces  of  this  fact 
and  will  have  occasion  to  refer  to  it  again  in  connec 
tion  with  the  more  specific  discussion  of  the  various 
men  as  to  their  probable  attitude  on  the  question  of 
Christ's  Headship  of  the  Church. 

Hubmaier,  in  some  respects,  reminds  one  of  Sa- 
vanarola,  e.  g.  in  his  apparent  inconsistencies  when 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  79 

subjected  to  great  suffering.  Under  such  circumstan- 
ces he  seems  to  have  yielded  on  all  points  except  in  his 
attitude  toward  infant  baptism  and  his  position  re- 
garding the  sacraments  which  meant  nothing  to  him. 
This  gave  his  enemies  an  opportunity  to  spread  all 
kinds  of  reports  as  to  the  '^recantations",  and  yet  made 
them  secretly  very  much  dissatified  with  the  results 
which  they  had  obtained  and  consequently  put  them 
into  a  frame  of  mind  which  would  make  them  ill-dis- 
posed toward  any  leniency  with  so  troublesome  a  char- 
acter. 

Hubmaier  was  ahead  of  his  time  and,  tho  he  seems 
to  have  looked  upon  the  situation  philosophically  for  a 
while,  the  time  came  when  his  endurance,  and  perhaps 
also  his  patience,  gave  way  and  he  became  logically 
inconsistent  in  some  respects,  but  on  the  whole  he 
stood  up  heroically  for  the  truth  as  he  saw  it,  and  he 
saw  it  more  clearly  than  most  of  his  critics,  at  least, 
he  came  more  nearly  living  what  he  saw.  He  was  one 
of  the  most  successful  teachers  of  the  Anabaptists  so 
far  as  the  number  of  accessions  to  the  movement  is 
concerned.  His  inconsistencies,  real  and  apparent,  are 
to  be  deplored,  altho  they  put  him  into  a  less  unfavor- 
able light  than  Zwingli's  cynical  criticisms  of  them  do 
the  latter.  The  burning  of  Hubmaier  was  another 
blot  on  the  name  of  the  Church  which  professed  to 
be  guided  by  the  Christ  whom  Hubmaier  tried  to  fol- 
low honestly,  tho  imperfectly. 


80  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

K.    Eitel  Hans  Langenmantel. 

This  man  was  a  member  of  one  of  the  oldest  and 
most  distinguished  patrician  families  in  Augsburg. 
His  father  was  one  of  the  most  illustrious  citizens  of 
that  city  during  the  first  half  of  the  16th  century.  He 
seems  to  have  had  many  educational  advantages,  in- 
cluding those  of  travel.  After  his  return  from  abroad 
he  took  up  an  enthusiastic  defense  of  Zwingli's  dec- 
trine  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

In  1527  Langenmantel  joined  the  Anabaptists  and 
was  baptized  by  Hans  Hut  in  March  of  that  year.  He 
became  one  of  the  most  influential  leaders  of  the  move- 
ment. This  was  probably  due  largely  to  his  social 
position.  He  had  been  a  pupil  of  Denck  but  was  not 
the  equal  of  his  teacher,  either  in  learning  or  in  philo- 
sophical ability. 

He  rendered  faithful  services  in  the  ministry  to 
which  he  was  soon  elected.  His  conception  of  faith 
was:  "Der  Glaube  ist  ein  geistig  innerlich  geschafti- 
ges  Regen  der  Seele — ein  Leben  derselben  im  Gottli- 
chen,  das  uns  fruchtbar  macht  in  allerlei  guten  Wer- 
ken."  This  conception  did  not  coincide  with  those  of 
many  leaders  of  the  established  churches,  but  Langen- 
mantel did  not  hesitate  to  publish  it  and  others  in 
several  pamphlets.  He  also  reacted  strongly  against 
the  commercial  tendencies  of  the  Lutheran  clergy.  He 
accused  them  of  avarice  and  took  the  position  that 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  81 

ministers  ought  not  to  be  paid  at  all.  This  was  due 
largely  to  the  fact  that  sc  many  clergymen  looked  fcr 
the  best  paying  parish  rather  than  the  parish  offering 
the  greater  opportunity  for  service. 

He  opposed  infant  baptism  because  he  considered 
it  an  error  either  to  impute  faith  to  the  infant  or  to 
accept  the  faith  of  the  parents  for  the  child.  He  had 
little  patience  with  the  theological  slight-of-hand 
which  was  often  used  in  defense  of  infant  baptism. 
He  demanded  to  know  how  one  could  baptize  where 
faith  in  the  preached  Gospel  was  impossible  and  where 
there  was  no  responsible  mind  to  have  the  kind  of  faith 
which  Jesus  demanded.  He  believed  that  infants  were 
saved  by  the  grace  of  God. 

Langenmantel  wrote  a  number  of  hymns  and  ren- 
dered good  services  as  an  evangelist.  The  Church  at 
Augsburg  grew  rapidly  under  his  leadership.  He  held 
meetings  whenever  and  wherever  it  was  safe  to  do  so 
and  never  seems  to  have  wanted  for  an  audience.  The 
growth  of  the  ''Community"  provoked  persecution  and 
many  of  his  members  were  imprisoned.  In  1527  he 
was  also  captured  but  the  influence  of  his  family  se- 
cured his  freedom  on  condition  that  he  leave  Augs- 
burg. This  he  did  but  was  captured  by  a  marauding 
party  in  1528  and  was  executed.  (For  the  account  of 
his  execution  and  for  his  last  prayer  cf.  Martyrerspie- 
gel,  Part  H,  p.  14.)  Thru  his  death  the  Anabaptists 
of  Southern  Germany  lost  another  of  their  best  leaders 


82  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

and  it  made  many  of  the  people  give  up  hope  while 
others  became  desperate. 

L.     Dirk  and  Obbe  Philipps. 

These  two  men  were  brothers  who  were  born  at 
Leuwarden,  Friesland  about  the  beginning  of  the  16th 
century.  Little  is  known  of  Obbe,  sometimes  also 
written  Ubbo,  Ubbe,  Olbe,  etc.,  but  he  is  supposed  to 
have  been  a  mechanic.  Thru  the  preaching  of  Mel- 
chior  Hoffmann,  who  visited  Friesland  on  his  tours, 
Obbe  was  converted  from  Romanism  to  the  Anabap- 
tist cause  and  became  a  preacher.  (For  an  estimate  of 
Obbe  Philipps  on  Melchior  Hoffmann  see  van  der 
Smissen,  Geschichte  und  Glaubenslehre  der  Menno- 
niten,  p.  40.)  He  did  not  share  Hoffmann's  extrava- 
gant views,  however,  nor  did  he  sympathize  with  the 
Miinster  movement.  He  actively  opposed  both.  He 
seems  to  have  been  of  a  quiet  nature,  disposed  to  fos- 
ter the  growth  of  a  new  Church  in  which  those  who 
were  really  in  earnest  about  their  Christianity  might 
live  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  consciences.  He 
was  instrumental  in  the  conversion  of  his  brother. 
Dirk,  and,  according  to  some  reports,  ordained  Menno* 
Simon  to  the  ministry.  Later  he  returned  to  the  fold 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  or  at  least  withdrew 
himself  sufficiently  from  the  Anabaptist  (then  Menno- 
nite)  cause  to  take  no  more  than  a  middle  position 
between  the  two  religious  bodies.    There  is  some  dif- 


REPRESENTATIVE  LEADERS  83 

ference  of  opinion  as  to  just  why  Obbe  Philipps  took 
this  step.  Vos  (Menno  Simons)  thinks  that  Obbe  was 
disappointed  in  his  expectations  and  discouraged  with 
conditions  as  they  developed.  Just  why  this  was  true 
is  not  so  evident,  but  the  writer  ventures  to  suggest 
that  Obbe's  lack  of  preparation  for  the  kind  of  work 
and  responsibility  which  arose  with  the  development 
of  the  new  movement  may  have  had  something  to  do 
with  the  taking  of  this  step  by  him. 

Dirk  Philipps  had  quite  a  different  career.  He  was 
born  in  1504.  Where  he  received  his  education  is  not 
known,  but  he  had  the  reputation  of  being  the  "best 
educated  among  the  Baptist-minded  of  his  day"  and 
he  is  known  to  have  been  well  versed  in  Latin  and 
Greek.  He,  too,  refused  to  ally  himself  with  the  Miin- 
ster  movement.  He  preferred  to  build  up  a  quiet 
Baptist-minded  community. 

Dirk  Philipps  became  both  an  efficient  co-laborer 
and  an  intimate  friend  of  Menno  Simon.  The  two 
seem  to  have  complemented  each  other  very  nicely 
both  as  to  ability  and  temperament.  Philipps  was  the 
more  scholarly  of  the  two  and  was  also  Menno's  supe- 
rior in  the  "knowledge  of  the  sciences",  but  he  lacked 
Menno's  practical  insight.  Philipps  was  a  very  earnest 
and  enthusiastic  man  and  was  inclined  to  be  puritanic. 
This  tendency  was  happily  counter-acted  by  Menno's 
disposition  toward  greater  mildness.  This  difference 
of  disposition  showed  itself  most  clearly  in  the  vexing 


84  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

question  of  excommunication.  Menno  succeeded  in 
holding  Philipps  in  moderation  as  long  as  he  lived. 
After  Menno's  death  Philipps  did  less  satisfactory  work 
along  this  line  because  of  an  increased  harshness  on 
his  part.  On  the  other  hand,  Philipps  was  a  great  help 
to  Menno  in  that  he  furnished  the  latter  a  great  and 
good-hearted  friend  whom  Menno  sorely  needed  in 
times  of  persecution  and  discouragement. 

Dirk  Philipps  was  very  effective  in  his  work  as  an 
itinerant  pastor-preacher  in  many  parts  of  Northwest- 
ern Germany.  He  added  to  the  value  of  this  work  by 
the  writing  of  his  Enchiridion  (A  Handbook  of  the 
Christian  Doctrine,  etc.).  This  book  seems  to  have 
had  a  large  influence  and  is  of  value  today  because  of 
the  insight  which  it  gives  into  the  doctrines  of  the 
early  Mennonites.  This  book  passed  thru  many 
editions  in  Europe  (1564,  1578,  1579,  1600  and  1627) 
and  has  also  been  published  in  the  United  States. 

M.    Gillis  von  Aachen. 

Gillis  von  Aachen,  or  Gillis  van  Acken,  was  also 
born  about  the  beginning  of  the  16th  century.  In  1525 
he  was  appointed  chaplain  at  Hoiningen  (Haehning- 
en)  and  began  to  preach  for  the  Anabaptists  at  Lim- 
burg  in  1531.  The  Miinster  movement  seems  to  have 
had  a  fascination  for  him.  While  on  his  way  to  that 
city  he  was  captured  but  was  released  again  and  seems 
to  have  worked  as  an  itinerant  preacher  until   1542 


REPRESENTATIVE  LEADERS  85 

when  Menno  Simon  ordained  him  as  an  elder.  Gillis 
continued  his  work  with  much  success,  baptizing  large 
numbers  of  people.  He  is  said  to  have  baptized  more 
martyrs,  whose  records  are  found  in  the  Martyrs' 
Mirror,  than  any  other  elder  of  the  Baptist-minded. 

In  1552  Gillis  was  excommunicated  on  the  charge 
of  immorality,  but  was  reinstated  two  years  later  fol- 
lowing a  confession  which  seems  to  have  been  sincere. 
This  reinstatement  caused  the  Mennonites  much  trou- 
ble, however,  because  of  their  strenuous  insistence 
upon  a  consistent  life. 

In  1557  Gillis  was  captured  while  preaching.  Fear- 
ing death  he  recanted,  promising  to  take  up  the  cause 
of  Roman  Catholicism  wherever  he  had  been  preach- 
ing. He  did  not  keep  this  promise,  however,  and  was 
soon  captured  again  and  beheaded. 

Tileman  van  Braght  refused  to  enter  the  account 
of  Gillis'  martyrdom  in  the  Martyrs'  Mirror  because 
of  his  recantation. 

N.    Leonert  Bouvens. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  also  an  ardent  sup- 
porter of  Menno  Simon.  He  was  elected  Elder  by  the 
Church  at  Emden.  His  wife  objected  to  this  election 
because  she  feared  that  his  enthusiasm  would  cause 
him  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  persecutors.  She 
wrote  to  Menno  Simon  imploring  him  to  use  his  in- 


86  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

fluence  in  altering  the  action  of  the  Church.  This 
Menno  declined  to  do.  Bouvens  accepted  the  call  and 
served  the  cause  very  enthusiastically  and  success- 
fully. Within  a  short  time  he  had  baptized  more  than 
10J300  people.  This  fact  has  been  discovered  from  rec- 
ords kept  by  himself,  in  which  the  names,  places  and 
dates  of  the  baptisms  are  given. 

Bouvens  strongly  emphasized  consistent  Christian 
living  and  therefore  favored  the  use  of  the  "ban"  (ex- 
communication). At  first  he  was  moderate  in  his  in- 
terpretation of  the  "ban",  favoring  it  merely  as  a  kind 
of  defense  against  the  "Schwarmgeister"  (probably 
referring  to  the  Munsterites  and  kindred  spirits)  but 
later  he  became  very  extreme  in  his  position.  He  is 
accused  of  having  intimidated  Menno  Simon  and  Dirk 
Philipps  so  that  they  also  took  a  more  extreme  posi- 
tion than  they  were  inclined  to  do  at  first.  If  this  is 
true,  Bouvens  was  probably  responsible  for  a  serious 
split  in  the  Mennonite  body  in  1557.  His  ability  and 
enthusiasm  were  of  great  value  to  the  cause  which  he 
represented  and  it  is  to  be  deplored  that  he  allowed 
his  experiences  to  increase  his  puritanical  tendencies. 
If  he  had  remained  with  his  original  position  that  the 
"ban"  should  be  used  as  a  fruit  of  the  Gospel,  to  build 
up,  not  to  break  down,  and  then  against  the  "spoilt 
members"  rather  than  the  weak,  Bouvens  might  have 
become  one  of  the  most  powerful  leaders  of  the  early 
Mennonite  Church. 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  87 

O.    Menno  Simon. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Witmarsum, 
West  Friesland,  Holland.  The  exact  date  of  his  birth 
is  still  a  matter  of  conjecture  and,  as  that  question  is 
of  little  significance  for  the  purposes  of  this  thesis, 
suffice  it  to  say  that  Menno  Simon  was  born  sometime 
during  or  near  the  year  1496. 

His  parents  were  probably  farmers.  He  was  edu- 
cated for  the  Roman  priesthood  and  began  serving  at 
Pingjum  at  the  age  of  28.  Of  the  experiences  in  this 
pastorate  he  writes :  "Two  other  persons  also  officia- 
ted in  the  same  station.  The  one  was  my  pastor  and 
was  well  learned  in  part ;  the  other  succeeded  me ; 
both  had  read  the  Scriptures  partially,  but  I  had  not 
touched  them  during  my  life,  for  I  feared  that  if  I 
should  read  them  they  would  mislead  me.  Behold, 
such  a  stupid  preacher  was  I  for  nearly  two  years.  In 
the  first  year  thereafter  the  thought  occurred  to  me. 
as  often  as  I  handled  the  bread  and  wine  in  the  mass, 
that  they  were  not  the  flesh  and  blood  of  the  Lord. 
I  thought  that  it  was  the  suggestion  of  the  devil  in 
order  that  he  might  lead  me  away  from  faith.  I  con- 
fessed it  often,  sighed  and  prayed,  yet  I  was  unable  to 
free  myself  from  the  thought.  At  length  I  resolved 
that  I  would  examine  the  New  Testament  actively. 
I  had  not  proceeded  far  therein  ere  I  discovered  that 
we  had  been  deceived.     My  conscience,   which   was 


88  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

troubled  on  account  of  the  sacramental  bread,  afore- 
mentioned, was  soon  greatly  relieved,  without  any 
human  aid  or  advice;  though  I  was  encouraged  by 
Luther  in  the  belief  that  human  authority  cannot  bind 
to  eternal  death." 

The  death  of  one  Sicke  Snyder,  who  was  beheaded 
because  he  had  been  re-baptized,  led  to  further  think- 
ing on  the  part  of  Menno.  He  consulted  in  turn  with 
his  Roman  Catholic  pastor,  with  Luther,  with  Bucer 
and  with  Bullinger  and  received  different  answers 
from  them  all  on  the  question  of  infant  baptism.  He 
says  of  this  experience :  "Having  thus  observed  that 
authors  varied  greatly  among  themselves,  each  fol- 
lowing his  own  opinion,  I  became  convinced  that  we 
were  deceived  in  relation  to  infant  baptism." 

He  next  went  to  the  village  of  his  birth,  Witmar- 
sum,  where  he  labored  with  much  display  of  enthusi- 
asm but  with  an  inward  unrest  because,  as  he  accused 
himself  afterward,  he  was  acting  the  hypocrite. 

Soon  after  this  representatives  of  the  Miinsterites 
visited  the  vicinity  and  succeeded  in  gaining  a  num- 
ber of  followers.  Menno  combatted  them  but  admits 
that  he  was  weakened  in  his  efforts  because  "he  did 
that  which  he  knew  was  not  right".  His  activities 
against  the  Miinsterites  soon  gained  for  him  the  repu- 
tation, "dass  er  ihnen  den  Mund  fein  stopfen  konne"... 
At  one  time  Menno  would  have  prided  himself  on  such 
a  reputation,  but  at  this  time  his  conscience  had  been 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  89 

awakened  and  therefore  this  praise  became  to  him  as 
a  thorn  in  the  flesh.     He  had  become  conscious  of  sin 
and  began  to  pray  fervently  that  God  should  keep  him 
from  making  himself  the  partaker  of  other  men's  sins. 
When  the  Miinsterites  had  gained  a  considerable 
following  the  authorities  attacked  about  300  of  them 
at  Oude  Klooster,   near  Witmarsum,    and    executed 
most  of  them,  including  Menno's  brother.    The  effect 
of  this  may  be  seen  from  Menno's  own  words :  "After 
this  had  transpired,  the  blood  of  the  slain,  although  it 
was  shed  in  error,  grieved  me  so  sorely  that  I  could  not 
endure  it.    I  could  find  no  rest  in  my  soul.    I  reflected 
upon  my  carnal,  sinful  life,  my  hypocritical  doctrine 
and  idolatry,  in  which  I  appeared  daily  under  the  ap- 
pearance of  godliness.     I  saw  that  these  zealous  chil- 
dren willingly  gave  their  lives  and  their  estates,  though 
they  were  in  error,  for  their  doctrine  and  faith.    And 
I  was  one  of  those  who  had  discovered  some  of  their 
abominations,   and   yet,    I   myself   remained   satisfied 
with  my  unrestrained  life  and  my  known  defilements. 
T  wished  only  to  live  comfortably  and  without  the 
cross  of  Christ.    Thus  reflecting  upon  these  things  my 
soul  was  so  grieved  that  I  could  no  longer  endure  it. 
I  thought  to  myself — I,  miserable  man,  what  shall  I 
do?   If  I  continue  in  this  way  and  live  not  agreeabl/ 
to  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  according  to  the  knowledge 
of  truth  which  I  have  obtained ;   if  I  do  not  rebuke  to 
the  best  of  my  ability  the  hypocricy,  the  impenitent, 


90  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

carnal  life,  the  perverted  baptism,  the  Lord's  Supper 
and  false  worship  of  God,  which  the  learned  teach ;  if 
I,  through  bodily  fear,  do  not  show  them  the  true  foun- 
dation of  truth,  neither  use  all  my  powers  to  direct  the 
wandering  flock,  who  would  gladly  do  their  duty  if 
they  knew  it,  to  the  true  pastures  of  Christ — Oh,  how 
shall  their  shed  blood,  though  shed  in  error,  rise 
against  me  at  the  judgment  of  the  Almighty  and  pro- 
nounce sentence  against  my  poor,  miserable  soul." 
This  experience  led  him  to  a  deeper  self-examination 
and  to  an  open  renunciation  of  his  former  life  and  a 
denunciation  of  the  practices  of  the  leaders  who  did 
not  teach  the  poor  people  the  truth.  He  continued  to 
oppose  the  Miinste rites  but  not  in  the  same  spirit. 

About  a  year  later  six  to  eight  young  men  of  high 
-character  came  to  Menno  while  he  was  "secretly  exer- 
cising himself  in  the  Word  of  God"  and  appealed  to 
him  to  become  their  leader.  The  principal  emphasis 
of  their  plea  was  the  need  of  spiritual  leadership.  This 
call  affected  Menno  deeply  (cf.  Works  of  Menno  Si- 
mon, Part  I,  pp.  5,  6).  After  deep  searching  of  soul  he 
finally  accepted  the  call  because  of  the  great  need  and 
took  up  his  difficult  task  with  an  earnest  determination 
to  serve  the  Lord  faithfully,  come  what  might. 

He  did  not  have  to  wait  long  for  persecutions,  but 
seems  to  have  met  them  heroically.  The  longer  one 
reads  in  his  works  the  more  one  feels  that  Menno  look- 
ed upon  these  persecutions  as  a  kind  of  desert  for  his 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  91 

former  life.  This  caused  a  tinge  of  asceticism  to  ap- 
pear in  his  life  which  sometimes  bordered  on  other 
worldliness  but  it  never  affected  him  sufficiently  to 
entangle  him  in  any  Chiliastic  or  Apocalyptic  allian- 
ces. 

By  nature  Menno  seems  to  have  been  of  a  kindly 
disposition.  This  v^as  a  good  trait  for  a  man  in  his 
position.  As  it  was,  the  bitterness  of  persecution  and 
the  heartache,  due  to  misunderstandings  within  the 
movement,  sometimes  caused  a  certain  gruffness  to  ap- 
pear in  his  attitude  toward  others.  EUenberger  says 
of  Menno :  "Fest  und  zahe  wie  sein  Geburtsland,  dort 
in  der  Nahe  der  Nordsee,  sehen  wir  ihn  in  seinem  spa- 
teren  Leben."  It  was  fortunate  that  he  had  such  a 
nature,  and  more  fortunate  that  it  was  tempered  with 
the  spirit  of  kindness  in  spite  of  the  sore  trials  to 
which  he  did  not  always  succumb. 

Six  years  after  Menno  left  the  Roman  Church  a  de- 
cree was  issued  forbidding  any  one  from  helping  him 
and  offering  100  Carolus  Guilders  for  his  capture. 
After  this  Menno  saw  few  days  of  safety. 

The  frugal  and  God-fearing  lives  of  the  Anabap- 
tists appealed  so  strongly  to  the  Countess  Anna  that 
she  sheltered  them.  This  helped  Menno  for  a  while, 
but  the  authorities  continually  confused  the  peaceful 
subjects  of  the  Countess  with  the  Miinsterites  and 
therefore  forced  her  to  persecute  them. 

The  nature  of  the  persecutions  against  the  Ana- 


92  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

baptists  may  be  seen  from  the  following  summary  of 
orders  issued  by  the  authorities  against  the  "Weder- 
dooperen".  No  one  was  to  ask  pardon  for  them  when 
they  had  been  condemned  to  death ;  any  one  leading 
to  the  capture  of  Anabaptists  was  to  receive  one-third 
of  their  possessions ;  no  one  might  conceal  things  be- 
longing to  them ;  any  one  taken  as  an  Anabaptist  was 
to  be  killed,  even  tho  he  confessed ;  all  unbaptized 
children  were  to  be  "baptized"  and  the  names  of  the 
parents  given  to  the  Roman  Catholic  priest  of  the 
respective  parish. 

It  does  not  take  a  very  strong  imagination  to  see 
why  these  peace-loving  people  believed  that  the 
Church,  founded  by  Jesus  Christ  and  named  after 
Him,  should  not  be  ruled  by  carnally-minded  men  who 
made  brute  force  and  not  the  will  of  God  their  shibbo- 
leth ! 

Under  these  conditions  Menno  built  so  well  that 
the  movement,  which  had  been  started  in  Southern 
Germany  and  Switzerland  and  then  carried  down  the 
Rhine  by  fleeing  members,  was  called  after  him.  Tho 
fiercely  persecuted  he  lived  to  be  over  60  years  of  age. 
During  the  latter  years  of  his  life  he  and  his  family 
were  in  misery  and  want  much  of  the  time ;  he  was 
often  in  danger  for  his  life  and  sometimes  came  near 
despairing,  but  he  kept  on  working.  He  felt  his  hard- 
ships keenly  but  not  so  keenly  as  the  sufferings  caused 
him    by    the    serious    misunderstandings    within    the 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  93 

movement  itself.  This  was  due  largely  to  the  extreme 
views  which  Leonert  Bouvens  held  regarding  excom- 
munication and  was  intensified  by  the  fact  that  he  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  Dirk  Philipps  and  Menno  to  take  his 
part  for  the  sake  of  peace.  Their  conciliatory  attitude 
was  interpreted  as  an  intimidation  and  they  conse- 
quently lost  their  influence  to  a  large  degree. 

Menno  died  January  13,  1559,  at  Wuestenfelde. 
This  place  was  later  destroyed  by  the  "Thirty  Years' 
War"  and  no  one  knows  where  the  burial  place  of  the 
great  leader  is  to  be  found.  A  memorial  was  erected 
to  him  at  Witmarsum  in  1877  which  bears  the  inscrip- 
tion of  his  motto :  "For  other  foundation  can  no  man 
lay  than  that  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus  Christ."  I  Cor. 
3:11. 

Menno's  doctrinal  position  was  that  of  the  move- 
ment of  the  quiet  Baptist-minded  as  a  whole,  except 
on  two  points,  namely  the  incarnation  and  the  "ban". 
The  latter,  as  we  have  seen,  was  influenced  by  the 
radical  position  of  Leonert  Bouvens  and  the  former 
was  probably  due  to  impressions  received  from  Mel- 
chior  Hoffmann  at  a  time  when  Menno  was  too  little 
grounded  in  the  Scriptures  to  settle  the  matter  calmly, 
especially  because  his  reaction  from  the  practices  of 
the  Roman  Church  came  about  the  same  time.  He 
believed  that  Jesus  had  simply  passed  thru  Mary 
without  having  received  any  of  her  properties.  He 
seems  to  have  felt  that  in  admitting  the  receipt  of  any- 


94  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

thing  from  Mary  there  was  danger  of  permitting  a  sug- 
gestion to  enter  that  Jesus  was  sinful.  Perhaps  the 
reaction  from  the  crass  practices  of  the  Roman  Church 
may  have  influenced  him  also.  Whatever  may  have 
been  the  cause,  he  does  not  seem  to  have  urged  this 
point  very  much  and  the  movement  as  a  whole  cer- 
tainly never  accepted  it. 

Menno  did  his  best  work  as  a  preacher  and  a  pas- 
tor. He  was  not  primarily  a  theologian  and  entered 
theological  controversies  with  much  hesitation.  When 
he  had  once  begun,  however,  he  carried  them  on  with 
considerable  fervor.  On  occasion  he  expressed  him- 
self with  more  force  than  elegance.  In  this  he  did  not 
exceed  others  whose  names  are  more  prominent  in  the 
annals  of  history,  but  his  followers  are  not  proud  of  the 
fact  that  their  leader  should  have  yielded  to  the  "Zeit- 
geist" in  this  respect.  His  peculiar  temptation  seems 
to  have  been  on  the  question  of  baptism,  which  was 
naturally  a  cause  for  provocation  under  existing  con- 
ditions. Positively  stated,  his  views  on  baptism  were 
that  it  is  a  sign  and  witness  of  an  inner  renewing, 
which  comes  thru  faith  and,  since  this  depends  upon 
the  free  decision  of  the  individual,  no  one  who  has  not 
reached  his  years  of  discretion  is  ready  for  baptism. 
His  views  on  other  points  of  doctrine  will  be  treated 
in  a  later  chapter  as  their  relation  to  his  probable 
views  on  Christ's  Headship  of  the  Church  makes  them 
relevant. 


REPRESENTATIVE   LEADERS  95 

If  Menno  could  have  written  pastoral  epistles  in- 
stead of  controversial  pamphlets,  the  writer  feels  that 
his  contribution  to  the  Church  and  the  world  would 
have  been  much  more  acceptable  and  valuable.  Never- 
theless Menno  Simon  has  made  no  mean  contribution 
and  his  work  has  doubtlessly  not  come  to  its  full  recog- 
nition as  yet.  Portions  of  the  Anabaptist  movement 
who  turned  from  him  on  the  question  of  the  *'ban", 
later  adopted  his  name  and  others,  not  of  the  denom- 
ination bearing  his  name,  have  become  increasingly 
interested  in  his  work. 

One  of  the  striking  features  about  this  man  was 

the  fact  that  he  became  so  proficient  in  his  knowledge 

of  the   Scriptures,   as   his   writings   show.     This   was 

characteristic  of  the  members  of  the  movement  as  a 

whole  and  no  doubt  accounts  for  the  persistency  of 

those  who  had  once  joined  it  and  for  the  emphasis 

which  they  placed  upon  consistently  following  Christ 

in  one's  daily  life. 

*  *  * 

There  may  be  room  for  considerable  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  the  probable  attitude  which  some  of  the 
foregoing  leaders  might  take  on  the  various  points 
involved  in  a  discussion  on  the  question  of  Christ's 
Headship  of  the  Church,  if  they  were  living  today,  but 
there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  fact  that  they  looked 
upon  Christ  as  the  Head  of  the  true  Church.  The 
fact  that  they  were  possessed  of  this  idea  beyond  the 


96  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

point  of  mere  theory  or  profession  made  them  mis- 
fits in  the  established  order  of  things  but  it  also  made 
them  willing  to  sacrifice  their  opportunities  for  world- 
ly gain  and  renown,  and  even  the  enjoyment  of  the 
inalienable  human  rights. 


CHAPTER  IV 

WAYS    IN    WHICH    THE    CONCEPTIONS    OF 

THESE   LEADERS   REGARDING  CHRIST'S 

HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH  FOUND 

EXPRESSION 

In  dealing  with  this  wide-spread  and  growing  long- 
ing for  deep  and  personal  communion  with  God  we 
have  felt  that  men  and  women,  who  en  masse  were 
usually  looked  upon  with  either  pity  or  contempt  by 
the  theological  leaders  of  their  day,  were  struggling 
to  give  expression  to  large  and  noble  conceptions.  To 
them  "the  real  matter  of  the  Reformation  was  not  the 
correction  of  views  but  the  correction  of  real  religion, 
the  practical  relations  between  God  and  the  soul." 
(Forsythe,  The  Person  and  Place  of  Jesus  Christ,  p. 
191.)  This  is  why  so  many  of  them  were  dissatisfied 
with  the  later  attitudes  of  the  leading  Reformers  and 
turned  away  from  those  whom  they  had  commenced 
to  follow  so  gladly  and  so  hopefully.  They  cared  for 
no  doctrine  which  could  not  be  lived  and  consequently 
were  misunderstood  in  a  day  when  the  theological 
leaders  placed  so  much  emphasis  upon  the  verbal 
statement  of  religious  beliefs.  They  made  religion 
everything  and  took  Christ  seriously  while  many  of 


98  CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

their  persecutors  used  religion  as  a  convenient  cloak 
to  be  put  on  when  occasion  demanded  it. 

A  time  of  such  vast  contrasts  and  of  such  porten- 
tious  transitions  is  naturally  also  a  time  of  new  begin- 
nings. This  applies  both  to  modes  of  thinking  and  to 
expressions  of  the  same.  Owing  to  the  degeneration 
in  the  established  churches,  a  new  beginning  had  to 
be  made  in  many  respects  and  hence  it  is  not  surpri- 
sing that  many  experiences  of  the  Apostolic  Church 
were  repeated  during  the  decades  immediately  suc- 
ceeding the  formal  opening  of  the  Reformation  by 
Luther  in  1519.  The  Anabaptists  and  early  Menno- 
nites  were  not  ready  for  a  system  of  theology  at  this 
time.  They  were  just  having  the  experiential  birth- 
pangs  of  a  new  church  life  and  needed  all  their 
strength  to  survive  this  ordeal.  Hence  it  is  not  strange 
that  we  find  statements  which  seem  crude  and  un- 
scientific, especially  when  we  remember  that  these 
people  were  goaded  to  an  expression  of  their  views 
by  theologians  who  had  had  considerable  training  in 
philosophical  subtleties,  but  who  lacked  the  spiritual 
experience  of  their  victims.  For  these  reasons  it  is  nec- 
essary to  consider  the  lives  of  these  people  rather  than 
the  verbal  expressions  on  matters  of  doctrine,  in  order 
to  get  at  their  real  points  of  view.  Let  us  remember 
that  these  people  belonged  to  a  spiritual  movement 
which  had  re-apprehended  Christian  faith  thru  its 
study  of  the  Bible  and  its  insistence  upon  a  return  to 


CONCEPTIONS  OF  THE  LEADERS  99 

the  kind  of  life  found  in  the  Apostolic  Church.  "It 
must  be  observed  that  in  Christianity  thus  defined  and 
thus  operative  the  person  of  Christ  always  stands  forth 
as  unique,  supreme,  divine,  redemptive,  and  directive. 
'Ubi  Christus,  ibi  ecclesia'  ".  (Encyclop.  of  Rel.  and 
Ethics.  Article,  Jesus  Christ,  by  W.  Douglas  Mac 
Kenzie.)  Hence  w^e  are  not  surprised  to  find  a  leader 
like  Menno  Simon  expressing  himself  as  follows:  "I 
desire  nothing  else,  before  God,  who  created  me,  than 
to  deal  plainly  with  the  living  voice  before  everyone 
as  one  willing  to  be  overcome  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ, 
or  to  overcome ;  for  my  desire  is  that  I  and  many  with 
me  be  saved ;  hence  it  is  unnecessary  to  use  the  sword 
against  me;  if  I  have  not  the  truth,. I  desire  with  all 
my  heart  to  be  instructed  in  it ;  but  if  I  have,  then  you 
do  not  persecute  me  but  Him  who  is  the  truth,  Christ 
Jesus."  (Complete  Works  of  Menno  Simon,  I,  p.  214.) 
Such  modes  of  expression  received  all  too  little  atten- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  leaders  of  the  Church  at  that 
time.  That  is  why  history  has  had  to  be  written  as  it 
has,  but  that  is  no  reason  for  undervaluing  such  ex- 
pressions as  an  indication  of  where  men  stood  on  doc- 
trinal points. 

The  conscientious  followers  of  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  often  failed  to  express  themselves  ex- 
actly as  did  the  followers  of  the  Nicene  Creed,  but 
that  fact  does  not  give  us  the  privilege  to  pass  super- 
ficial judgments  on  what  they  really  thot;    it  challen- 


100        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

ges  us  to  a  deeper  study  of  the  underlying  causes  of 
the  apparent  differences  between  the  two  classes  of 
followers.     **It  is  impossible  for  any  one,  whether  he 
be  a  student  of  history  or  no,  to  fail  to  notice  the  dif- 
ference of  both  form  and  content  between  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  and  the  Nicene  Creed.    The  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  is  the  promulgation  of  a  new  law  of  con- 
duct ;   it  assumes  beliefs  rather  than  formulates  them ; 
the  theological  conceptions  which  underlie  it  belong 
to  the  ethical  rather  than  the  speculative  side  of  the- 
ology ;    metaphysics  are  wholly  absent.     The  Nicene 
Creed  is  a  statement  partly  of  historic  facts  and  partly 
of  dogmatic  inferences ;   the  metaphysical  terms  which 
it  contains  would  probably  have  been  unintelligible  to 
the  first  disciples ;  ethics  have  no  place  in  it.    The  one 
belongs  to  a  world  of  Syrian  peasants,  the  other  to  a 
world   of   Greek  philosophers."     (Dr.    Edwin    Hatch, 
The  Influence  of  Greek  Ideas  and  Usages  Upon  the 
Christian  Church,  p.  1.)  The  fundamental  implications 
of  the  foregoing  contrast  also  apply  to  differences  of 
expression  found  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation  be- 
tween the  theologians  and  the  people  who  wanted  a 
religious  conviction  which  could  express  itself  in  life. 
It  was  not,  at  that  time,  a  question  as  to  whether  Jesus 
Christ  had  founded  the  Church  (nominally  at  least  all 
would  have  agreed  to  that)  ;    it  was  rather  a  question 
of  why  He  had  done  so.    The  Anabaptists  would  have 
answered   the   latter   question   by   saying   that   Jesus 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  101 

Christ  had  founded  the  Church  in  order  to  have  a 
Community  (Gemeinde)  of  spiritually-minded  men 
and  women ;  their  enemies  answered  the  same  ques- 
tion, in  fact  if  not  in  theory,  by  maintaining  that  the 
Church  was  founded  to  be  a  politico-religious  world 
power. 

Keeping  in  mind  the  facts  pointed  out  in  the  fore- 
going, we  are  ready  to  trace  out  more  specifically  the 
conceptions  of  the  early  Mennonite  leaders  and  their 
Anabaptist  predecessors  regarding  Christ's  Headship 
of  the  church.  This  will  be  done  under  the  following 
general  heads : 

A.  Thru   their   conceptions   regarding   Christ's 
Person. 

B.  Thru   their   conceptions   regarding   Christ's 
Work. 

C.  Thru      their     conceptions      regarding     the 
Church. 

A.    Conceptions  of  Anabaptist  Leaders  Regarding 
Christ's  Person. 

"As  far  as  Christology  is  concerned,  it  is  the  grad- 
ual unfolding  of  the  central  fact  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
from  the  first  accepted  by  the  Church  as  the  incarnate 
Son  of  God,  the  redeemer  of  man  by  the  cross,  the 
ruler  of  our  experience  by  His  Spirit"  (Dr.  W.  Doug- 
las MacKenzie).     With  such  a  plan  in  mind  one  may 


102        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

say  that  these  Anabaptist  leaders  looked  upon  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  Son  of  God  who  came  into  this  world  in 
order  to  save  men  from  sin.  They  conceived  of  Him 
as  having  been  with  the  Father  before  the  beginning 
of  the  world ;  that  He  came  into  the  world  as  the  first- 
born son  of  Mary;  that  He  was  crucified  and,  having 
died,  He  was  raised  again  and  did  ascend  into  heaven 
from  whence  He  will  come  again  as  the  Judge  of  the 
whole  world.  They  conceived  of  Him  as  still  the  same 
who  was  with  the  Father  from  the  beginning  and  then 
lived  upon  the  earth  in  order  to  carry  out  the  will  of 
the  Father  regarding  the  redemption  of  man.  (For  a 
copy  of  the  original  text  upon  which  the  foregoing 
summary  is  based,  taken  from  a  book  which  was  pub- 
lished in  1664,  see  Appendix  IV.) 

The  question  as  to  how  such  a  transaction  could  be 
possible  was  met  by  them  by  simply  accepting  the 
Scriptural  accounts  without  attempting  to  fathom  the 
mysteries  which  these  accounts  present  or  to  solve  the 
problems  which  they  raise.  This  need  not  surprise 
us,  however,  for  we  have  already  reminded  ourselves 
that  these  men  stood  in  a  period  of  transitions  and  in 
a  time  of  new  beginnings.  Later  Confessions  of  Faith 
are  greatly  amplified,  showing  that  the  conceptions 
which  were  obtained  during  and  soon  after  the  great 
transition  period  of  the  Reformation  were  not  suffi- 
cient to  meet  the  questions  which  naturally  arose  from 
a  more  highly  organized  condition  of  the  Communities 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  103 

(Gemeinden)  and  from  the  leisure  to  think,  combined 
with  the  rapidly  rising  educational  facilities  which 
stimulated  such  thinking.  The  leaders  with  whom  we 
are  concerned  were  not  unmindful  of  the  problems 
which  arose  later.  They  were  not  ready  to  meet  them 
in  such  a  definite  way,  however,  as  to  give  to  their 
posterity  a  clear  or  satisfying  answer  as  to  their  solu- 
tion. The  conditions  surrounding  them  naturally  bred 
a  kind  of  timidity  which  is  not  altogether  to  be  con- 
demned because  undue  boldness  is  apt  to  play  more 
havoc  in  such  delicate  matters  than  an  anxious  hesi- 
tation even  tho  the  latter  provokes  an  impatience 
which  too  often  makes  for  divisions.  We  need  not 
wonder  that  these  early  leaders  were  careful,  however, 
when  we  learn  that  as  late  as  1763  Cornelis  Ris,  who 
had  been  requested  to  draw  up  a  summary  of  all  for- 
mer Confessions  of  Faith,  was  guided  in  this  work  by 
very  carefully  formulated  rules  among  which  we  find 
the  following:  "Die  dritte  Regel :  Behutsam  von  den 
Geheimnissen  sich  auszudriicken,  woriiber  gutgesinnte 
Gemiiter  bisweilen  Zweifel  hegen."  Then,  referring  to 
the  Trinity,  he  says :  'Teh  bin  fiir  mich  selber  in  der 
Lehre  von  der  heiligen  Dreyeinigkeit  wohl  gegriindet, 
und  hege  eine  demiitige  Ehrerbietung  fiir  diese  VVahr- 
heit  vom  ersten  Range ;  dennoch  bin  ich  davon  sehr 
kurz,  und  habe  so  vorsichtig,  und  mit  den  VVorten  der 
Heiligen  Schrift  so  genau  iibereinstimmend  mich  aus- 
zudriicken  bestrebt,   wie   mir   nur   moglich   gewesen ; 


104        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

weil  ich  aus  eigner  Erfahrung  weiss,  wie  furchtsam 
zarte  Gemiiter,  denen  bey  ihrer  Erziehung  oder  sonsten 
andere  Grundsatze  eingeflosset,  in  diesem  Punkt  sind, 
und  wie  schwer  es  fallt,  griindlich  ihre  Einwiirfe  auf- 
zulosen ;  imgleichen  wie  oft  sie  Anstoss  nehmen  an 
einigen  menschlichen  Redensarten,  durch  die  Unvor- 
sichtigkeit  solcher  Personen,  denen  es  an  aufgeklarten 
Begriffen  fehlt."  (Die  Glaubenslehre  der  wahren  Men- 
noniten  oder  Taufgesinnten  aus  deren  offentlichen 
Glaubensbekenntnissen  zusammen  gezogen  durch  Cor- 
nelis  Ris-)  Lest  we  forget,  such  "Behutsamkeit"  (cir- 
cumspection) has  not  become  unknown,  or  perhaps 
even  unnecessary,  lo,  these  many  years  since  Cornelis 
Ris  wrote,  to  say  nothing  of  the  time  which  has  elaps- 
ed since  men,  bent  upon  controversy,  drew  forth  state- 
ments from  other  men  who  wanted  to  live  their  faith 
rather  than  to  argue  about  it !  This  fact  should  make 
us  less  critical  because  so  little  was  produced  and  more 
appreciative  of  the  quality  which  that  little  was  able 
to  show  when  occasion  demanded. 

In  taking  up  the  views  of  individual  leaders  we 
find  that  they  agree  concerning  those  matters  which 
make  for  an  accentuation  of  the  application  of  Chris- 
tian truth  and  sometimes  differ  widely  on  purely  specu- 
lative points. 

Hans  Denck  says  comparatively  little  about  Jesus 
Christ.     For  him  the  "inner  voice"  is  of  prime  import- 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  105 

ance  and  therefore  his  expressions  lead  one  to  think 
more  definitely  concerning  the  Holy  Spirit.  This  does 
not  mean,  however,  that  Denck  did  not  emphasize 
faith  in  Christ.  For  him  ''Christ  has  come  from  God 
as  a  sunbeam  from  the  sun  .  .  .  Christ  is  the  Son  of  the 
Highest  and  all  good  men 'are  the  children  of  God". 
''Men  are  inclined  toward  sin,  but  there  is  also  a  'some- 
thing' within  me  which  opposes  this  tendency  toward 
sin.  This  'something'  is  from  God.  This,  and  not  the 
so-called  'faith'  which  is  nothing  more  than  taking  for 
granted  certain  doctrines,  is  what  leads  me  to  a  right 
relationship  with  God.  Hence  I  conclude  that  this 
'something'  in  me  is  Christ,  of  whom  the  Scriptures 
testify  that  He  is  the  Son  of  the  Highest."  He  also 
said  that  he  conceived  of  Jesus  Christ  as  having  lived 
eternally  and  that  He  would  remain  the  Mediator  of 
all  men  for  all  time.  He  also  conceived  of  all  true 
Christians  as  being  one  with  God  in  Christ,  or,  as  he 
says  in  another  place,  "God  and  man  are  individuals, 
but  they  are  bound  together  through  Jesus  Christ  who 
became  man."  Denck  further  maintained  that  "the 
love  of  God  could  not  have  shown  itself  more  clearly 
than  it  did  through  Jesus  of  Nazareth".  He  also  con- 
ceived of  Christ  as  having  been  sinless,  for  he  says : 
"Christ  never  stumbled.  He  was  never  at  variance  with 
God,  although  born  in  time  according  to  the  flesh,  and 
subjected  to  all  of  the  weaknesses  of  men,  except  sin." 
Denck,    in   speaking   of   salvation    declared   that   "all 


106        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

those  who  are  saved  must  be  saved  through  Christ." 

Taken  by  themselves  these  statements  suggest  many 
phases  of  a  well  developed  system  of  theology,  but 
when  one  takes  them  with  their  context  one  finds  that 
in  Denck's  mind  they  are  primarily  suggestions  of  what 
he  thinks  of  Him  upon  whom  he  depends  for  power 
to  lead  a  consistent  life  and  for  light  in  thinking  of 
what  he  ought  to  be  and  do.  Denck  was  a  mystic,  but 
one  who  wanted  the  suggestions  of  the  ''inner  voice" 
to  be  converted  into  the  kind  of  men  and  women  who 
would  carry  out  the  wishes  of  God  as  represented  in 
Jesus  Christ.  Hence  we  find  Denck  frequently  refer- 
ring to  the  attitude  of  Jesus  on  certain  points  of  dis- 
cussion, e.  g-  he  says :  "Christ,  who  was  Love,  said 
nothing  about  church  rules  and  ceremonies."  This 
settled  the  matter  for  Denck.  Not  that  he  was  an 
iconoclast  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  but  he  felt 
that  a  thing  that  Jesus  Christ  had  said  nothing  about 
was  not  of  sufficient  importance  for  the  Church  to  lay 
such  emphasis  on ;  especially  when  the  Church  seemed 
so  anxious  to  make  very  little  of  a  number  of  things 
concerning  which  Christ  had  expressed  Himself  quite 
clearly  and  even  emphatically. 

Denck  was  not  by  nature  inclined  to  rebel  and 
therefore  concerned  himself  comparatively  little  about 
the  idea  of  law,  especially  in  the  sense  in  which  it  was 
used  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  his  day.     He 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  107 

believed  that  the  teachings  of  Christ  do  not  stand  in 
opposition  to  the  law,  but  that  they  contain  the  higher 
development  of  the  same  thot.  This,  to  Denck,  was 
an  inspiration  to  live  near  to  Christ ;  he  felt  as  tho  he 
had  risen  to  a  new  height  thru  Christ  and  that  the 
''observances"  of  former  days  had  lost  their  import- 
ance. This  does  not  mean  that  Denck  thot  himself 
above  these,  as  weak  or  carnally-minded  men  have 
sometimes  done.  It  was  not  license  which  he  sought 
but  liberty  in  the  higher  sense  and  for  him  this  liberty 
came  thru  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  become  man  for  a 
definite  purpose  and  now  residing  again  with  God  as 
the  eternal  Mediator  of  all  men.  This  was  a  very  real 
matter  for  Denck  and  he  had  little  time,  and  perhaps 
as  little  inclination  to  worry  himself  about  the  specu- 
lative or  metaphysical  problems  connected  with  such 
conceptions.  In  fact,  he  seems  to  have  had  a  kind  of 
suspicion  that  when  men^  in  his  day  when  there  was 
such  a  dire  lack  of  Christ-like  living,  spent  their  time 
and  energies  with  the  merely  speculative  side  of  the 
Christ,  they  were  probably  in  need  of  a  reminder  that 
that  was  not  the  most  important  side. 

The  two  great  words  in  Denck's  theology  were  love 
and  faith,  and  they  both  centered  in  Christ.  This  is 
quite  important  in  an  estimate  of  his  Christology  and 
goes  farther  in  giving  us  an  idea  of  what  Jesus  Christ 
meant  to  Hans  Denck  than  a  skillfully  worked-out 
statement  of  theology  might. 


108        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

Dirk  Philipps  prefaces  his  chapter  on  the  Incarna- 
tion (Enchiridion,  pp.  100-125)  with  the  following 
quotations:  "The  Word  became  flesh,  John  1:14a"; 
"That  which  was  from  the  beginning,  that  which  we 
have  heard,  that  which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes, 
that  which  we  beheld,  and  our  hands  handled,  con- 
cerning the  Word  of  Life,  and  the  Life  was  mani- 
fested, I  John  1 :2a"  and  "Great  is  the  mystery  of 
godliness;  God  was  manifested  in  the  flesh,  I  Tim. 
3:16b."  These  quotations  suggest  where  he  stood  on 
the  fact  of  the  incarnation.  His  quotations  were  evi- 
dently made  with  the  purpose  of  making  it  clear  to 
the  enemies  that  he  believed  in  the  incarnated  Christ, 
(for  it  was  part  of  the  mission  of  this  confession  to 
refute  the  charges  of  enemies  that  the  Mennonites  did 
not  believe  in  Christ).  The  fact  that  the  selection 
seems  somewhat  strained  and  not  in  conformity  with 
all  of  the  modern  rules  of  exposition  is  of  little  concern 
to  us  in  this  connection. 

After  a  detailed  exposition  of  their  belief  regarding 
the  incarnation  of  Christ,  Philipps  sums  up  the  matter 
as  follows :  "Darum  so  ist  zum  letzten  unser  Glauben 
und  herzgriindliche  Bekenntnis  vor  Gott  dem  Herrn, 
vor  seinen  Engeln,  vor  alien  rechten  Christen  und  vor 
einem  jeglichen,  dass  Jesus  Christus  ist  der  eigene  na- 
tiirliche,  eingebohrene,  erstgebohrene  Sohn  des  leben- 
digen  Gottes,  wahrhaftig  GOtt  und  GOttes  Sohn,  (Joh. 
l.a  3.C.  Heb.  l.a.  Mich.  5. a.)  ein  wahrhaftiger  Mensch 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  109 

und  des  Menschen  Sohn,  GOtt  und  GOttes  Sohn,  von 
Ewigkeit  bey  GOtt,  und  in  GOtt,  (von  welchem  er  ge- 
bohren  ist)  von  Ewigkeit  Rom.  8.a.)  Aber  ein  Mensch 
in  der  letzten  Zeit  nach  der  Verheissung  des  Vaters, 
durch  seine  eigene  gutwillige  Gelassenheit,  Gehor- 
samkeit,  Verkleinerung  seiner  selbst,  Ablegung  seiner 
gottlichen  Gestalt  und  Annehmung  einer  menschli- 
chen  und  knechtlichen  Gestalt,  aus  iiberfliissiger  Liebe 
geworden ;  darum  ist  er  auch  der  rechte  einige  Mittler 
zwischen  GOtt  und  den  Menschen,  denn  er  steht  recht 
in  dem  Mittel.  II  Tim.  2.b.  Namlich  er  ist  nicht  allein 
GOtt  und  GOttes  Sohn,  sondern  er  ist  auch  ein  Mensch 
und  des  Menschen  Sohn ;  dem  Vater  ist  er  gleich  nach 
seiner  Gottheit,  aber  uns  Menschen  ist  er  gleich  nach 
seiner  Menschheit,  ausgenommen  der  Siinde  und  alle 
siindliche  und  irdische  Art  unseres  Fleisches;  denn  er 
ist  der  andere  Adam  (I  Cor.  15. e),  der  Herr  selber  von 
dem  Himmel,  sein  Fleisch  hat  er  fiir  uns  in  den  Tod 
gegeben  und  seinen  Geist  in  die  Hande  seines  Vaters 
befohlen ;  ja,  dass  die  Sonne  in  dem  Tod  Christi  ver- 
dunkelt  (Marc  15. d.  Matt.  27 .^^  und  doch  nicht  ver- 
gangen  ist,  scheinet  wohl  zu  bezeichnen,  und  mag 
nicht  unformlich  darauf  gedeutet  werden  (dieweil 
doch  GOtt  in  der  Schrift  durch  die  Sonne  abgebildet, 
und  die  Sonne  genannt  wird,  Buch  d.  Weish.  5. a.  Ps. 
19. a),  dass  der  Glanz  der  Herrlichkeit  GOttes  Jesus 
Christus  nach  dem  Fleisch  gestorben  ist  (Offenb.  l.d), 
und  gleichwohl   nach   dem   Geist   lebet,   als   er  selber 


no        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

sagt:    "Ich  bin  lebendig,  und  war  todt,  und  siehe,  ich 
lebe  von  Ewigkeit  zu  Ewigkeit."    Heb.  La. 

''Drey  Stunden  ist  die  Sonne  verdunkelt  gewesen 
wider  ihre  Art,  und  doch  nicht  vergangen ;  drey  Tage 
und  drey  Nachte  ist  Jonas  im  Wallfisch  gewesen,  und 
doch  lebendig  geblieben  iiber  die  Natur;  wiederum  ist 
er  am  dritten  Tage  von  den  Todten  auferstanden,  (1 
Cor.  15. a)  und  nach  dem  Geist  lebendig  gemachet,  iiber 
die  menschliche  Natur:  Also  ist  das  edle  Weizenkorn- 
lein  Jesus  Christus  in  die  Erde  gefallen,  (Job.  12. c)  und 
hat  durch  sein  Leiden  und  Tod  viel  seligmachende 
Frucht  gebracht,  (Tit.  3. a)  also  hat  der  getreue  und 
einige  gute  Hirt  Jesus  Christus  nach  und  aus  dem  Be- 
fehl  seines  himmlischen  Vaters,  selber  sein  Leben  von 
ihm  selbst  gelassen,  und  wiederum  zu  ihm  genommen. 
Joh.  lO.b.  Also  ist  das  unschuldige  Lamm  Gottes,  Je- 
sus Christus,  welches  die  Siinden  der  Welt  hinweg- 
nimmt,  seinem  himmlischen  Vater  zu  einem  siissen 
Geruch,  aber  uns  zur  ewigen  Seligkeit,  an  dem  Kreuz 
geopfert ;  denn  solches  hat  er  selber  gewollt.  Esai. 
53.a.  Joh.  2.C.    1.  Pet.  I.e.  Eph.  5. a." 

After  this  summary  Philipps  stated  that  they  con- 
sidered any  one  who  did  not  believe  in  the  eternal 
divinity  (Gottheit)  and  the  real  humanity  of  Jesus 
Christ,  an  anti-Christ.  He  also  insists  that  it  is  not 
sufficient  to  accept  this  as  a  fact  merely.  If  it  is  to 
have  anv  value  it  must  affect  the  life  of  the  confessor 


CONCEPTIONS   OF   THE   LEADERS  111 

or  he  is  no  better  than  the  devil  who  also  believes  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God  and  of  man.  Philipps 
calls  this  real  kind  of  faith  in  Christ  the  belief  in  Him 
as  the  *'Word".  He  makes  a  great  deal  of  this  ex- 
pression. His  idea  seems  to  be  that  Christ  is  an  ex- 
pression of  God's  mind  (Gemiit)  in  the  form  of  a 
Word-being  (wesentliches  Wort)  and  therefore  dif- 
ferent from  all  other  ''Words"  of  God.  As  such  a  be- 
ing Christ  was  with  the  Father  from  the  beginning. 
He  limited  Himself,  of  His  own  volition,  in  order  to 
carry  out  the  purposes  of  God  on  this  earth  and  then 
returned  to  the  Father  where  He  continues  to  exist  as 
He  did  before  His  sojourn  upon  earth.  He  is  of  the 
same  kind  and  nature  with  the  Father  (gleicher  Art 
und  Natur). 

Philipps  seems  also  to  have  had  difficulty  in  avoid- 
ing a  conflict  in  his  mind  as  to  how  Christ  (Jesus) 
could  have  received  the  substance  of  His  body  from 
Mary  and  yet  not  partake  of  the  inheritance  of  "Ad- 
am's sin".  His  solution  was  that  God  had  created 
the  body  of  Jesus  in  Mary.  His  defense  of  his  posi- 
tion clearly  indicates  that  it  was  a  reaction  against  the 
crass  interpretations  of  the  "world"  on  this  subject. 

In  his  chapter  "Von  der  rechten  Erkenntnis  Jesu 
Christi"  (Enchiridion  pp.  127-158)  Philipps  reviews  the 
foregoing  points  in  the  light  of  Scripture  and  finds  a 
great  many  passages  in  both  the  Old  and  the  New 
Testaments   bearing   on   the   subject   from   his   view- 


112         CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

point.  The  extreme  literalness  of  interpretation  and 
the  tendency  to  look  for  "proof  texts"  is  quite  in  evi- 
dence but  that  is  not  surprising  when  we  take  into 
consideration  the  time  in  which  he  wrote.  He  takes 
it  for  granted  that  his  readers  are  acquainted  with  the 
Scriptures  and  he  also  maintains  that  the  correct  con- 
ception of  Christ  is  a  matter  of  faith  rather  than  a 
matter  of  intellectual  understanding.  He  considers 
the  relation  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  Father  a  mystery 
which  is  of  real  significance  to  mankind  as  a  matter  of 
life,  both  here  on  earth  and  in  the  world  to  come.  He 
admonishes  his  readers  to  believe  this  mystery  and 
admits  significantly :  "Aber  das  ist  der  Vernunft  un- 
begreiflich  und  muss  allein  mit  dem  Glauben  gefasset 
werden,  dass  Jesus  Christus,  der  aus  dem  Vater  ist 
nach  dem  Fleisch,  dass  derselbige  iiberall  GOtt  ist, 
gebenedeyet  in  Ewigkeit,  darum  sagt  Paulus,  dass  dies 
gottselige  Geheimniss  gross  ist,  namlich :  Dass  GOtt 
geofifenbaret  ist  in  dem  Fleisch,  fromm  gemacht  in 
dem  Geist,  erschienen  denen  Engeln,  geprediget  denen 
Heiden,  beglaubet  von  der  Welt,  aufgenommen  in  die 
Herrlichkeit.  2.  Tim.  3.b.  Diese  Heimlichkeit  konnte 
der  Apostel  Thomas  zum  ersten  nicht  erkennen,  aber 
da  er  von  Gott  durch  den  Heiligen  Geist  erleuchtet  und 
durch  die  Erfahrung  recht  gelehret,  und  also  recht 
glaubig  worden  war,  sprach  er  zu  Christum :  Mein 
HErr  und  mein  GOtt.  (Joh.  20.d.)  Welche  Bekenntnis 
Thoma  nicht  zu  dem  Vater,  sondern  zu  Christo  ge- 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  113 

sprochen  ist,  und  darum  nicht  auf  den  Vater,  sondern 
auf  Christum  muss  verstanden  werden." 

This  emphasis  on  faith  rather  than  on  intellectual 
discernment  was  not,  on  the  part  of  Philipps,  a  case  of 
evading-  a  difficult  problem.  He  and  his  associates 
were  so  much  concerned  with  the  ethical  application 
of  the  principles  of  Christ  that  they  could  not  sever 
the  practical  from  the  purely  theoretical.  There  were 
such  within  the  movement  who  reacted  so  strongly 
from  the  intellectual  subtleties  and  the  evil  lives  of 
many  of  the  learned  that  they  despised  learning,  but 
this  was  not  the  case  with  Philipps.  He  got  at  the  truth 
of  the  Gospels  by  what  Denney  calls  "a.  truly  religious 
way".  He,  and  in  this  he  was  a  type  for  the  movement 
as  a  whole,  belongs  to  the  class  of  people  to  whom 
Denney  refers  (Jesus  and  the  Gospel,  p.  150)  when 
he  says :  ''When  a  man  who  is  morally  in  earnest,  ab- 
sorbed in  the  effort  to  lead  a  spiritual  life  in  the  world 
of  nature,  a  life  of  freedom  in  the  realm  of  necessity, 
takes  the  Gospels  into  his  hand  and  looks  upon  the 
figure  of  Jesus,  the  last  thing  which  will  occur  to  him 
is  that  this  figure  is  unreal.  There  may  be  a  great  deal 
in  the  Gospel  narratives  which  puzzles  him,  which  he 
does  not  know  what  to  do  with,  and  for  the  present 
must  ignore ;  but  there  is  something  also  which  is  its 
own  evidence  and  which  rises  out  of  the  narrative  in 
unquestionable  reality — the  spiritual  life  of  Jesus". 
For  Philipps  and  his  associates  this  was  also  true  of  Je- 


114        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

sus  Christ,  both  as  the  Son  of  God  eternally  with  the 
Father  and  as  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  in  His  relation  to 
and  with  the  Father.  They  perused  the  Gospels  and 
found  in  them  the  reality  of  this  Jesus  Christ  confront- 
ing them.  Of  this  one  thing  they  were  sure  and  they 
were  content  to  let  the  matter  rest  there  so  far  as  in- 
tellectual discernment  of  details  was  concerned.  They 
believed  it,  and  believing  it,  tried  to  live  as  tho  it  were 
really  true. 

If,  as  Dr.  MacKenzie  says,  "we  must  in  our  theol- 
ogy conceive  of  the  person  of  Christ  in  relation  to  the 
community  whose  very  consciousness  is  that  it  lives  in 
Him,"  then  Philipps  and  his  associates  give  us  a  pretty 
clear  conception  of  the  power  of  Christ's  personality 
over  human  beings.  It  was  in  this  direction  that  they 
gave  the  evidence  of  their  conception  of  Him  rather 
than  in  the  form  of  nicely  balanced  creeds.  Without 
considering  the  latter  as  of  no  value,  they  felt  as  Wedel 
expresses  himself  (Meditationen,  168)  :  "Aber  blosse 
Ideen,  Lehrsatze.  Ansichten — und  seien  sie  auch  gut 
und  schon,  bilden  kein  haltbares  Fundament  religioser 
Ueberzeugung."  This  does  not  mean  that  they  did 
not  value  thot,  and  especially  devotional  thot.  A  man 
was  to  live  in  personal  relationship  with  Christ,  in  a 
real  communion  with  Him,  but  this  communion  was 
to  bear  fruitage  in  the  way  the  man  who  professed  to 
have  it  conducted  himself.  Wedel  says :  "Religion  ist 
ihrem  Tiefsinn  nach  Gemeinschaft  mit  Gott,  so  dass 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  115 

der  Mensch  gottliche  Kraftwirkungen  in  seinem  Her- 
zen  erfahret."  (Meditationen,  p.  168.)  It  was  this 
working  power  in  the  hearts  of  men  that  these  early 
Mennonites  were  most  concerned  with  and  their  posi- 
tion was  what  it  was  because  of  their  conception  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

In  this  principal  emphasis  and  central  fact  of  their 
position  Menno  Simon  agreed  with  the  rest.  This  was 
what  bound  the  movement  so  closely  together  that  the 
differences  of  opinion  on  minor  matters  could  not  pre- 
vent it  from  crystallizing  into  a  denomination.  What 
was  true  of  the  leaders,  was  also  true  of  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  movement.  We  repeatedly  find  that  men 
and  women  **were  baptized  on  their  faith  in  Christ  in 
order  that  they  might  rise  with  Him  and  walk  with 
Him  in  the  new  life". 

It  was  only  when  these  people  were  forced  to  give 
expression,  under  pressure,  to  their  beliefs  that  the 
"peculiar  views",  which  they  were  supposed  to  possess 
came  to  the  fore,  and  even  then  we  do  not  find  that 
these  "views"  were  more  than  an  attempt  to  solve 
problems  in  a  realm  in  which  they  did  not  feel  them- 
selves at  home.  For  example,  we  find  that  Menno 
contradicted  himself  in  regard  to  his  "view"  of  the 
incarnation.  In  the  heat  of  discussion  he  declared 
himself  as  believing  that  Jesus  had  merely  passed 
thru  Mary,  but  when  he  writes  his  exposition  of  the 
25th  Psalm  he  says:    "O   Lord!    I  am  not  ashamed 


116        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

of  my  doctrine  before  Thee  and  Thine  angels,  much 
less  before  this  rebellious  world ;  for  I  know  assuredly 
that  I  teach  Thy  Word.  I  have  taught  throughout  a 
repentance,  a  dying  unto  our  sinful  flesh  and  the  new 
life  that  cometh  from  God.  I  have  taught  a  true,  sin- 
cere faith  in  Thee  and  Thy  beloved  Son,  that  it  might 
be  made  powerful  through  love.  I  have  taught  Jesus 
Christ  and  Him  crucified,  very  God  and  very  man, 
who,  in  an  incomprehensible,  inexpressible  and  inde- 
scribable manner,  was  born  of  Thee  from  all  eternity, 
the  eternal  Word  and  Wisdom,  the  brightness  of  Thy 
glory  and  the  express  image  of  Thy  person  ;  and  that,  in 
fullness  of  time,  through  the  power  of  Thy  Holy  Spirit, 
He  became  in  the  womb  of  the  unspotted  virgin,  Mary, 
real  flesh  and  blood,  a  visible,  tangible  and  mortal  man 
like  unto  Adam  and  his  posterity  in  all  things,  yet 
without  sin,  born  of  the  seed  or  lineage  of  Abraham 
and  David,  dead  and  buried  He  rose  again,  ascended 
into  heaven  and  thus  became  before  Thee  our  only  and 
eternal  Advocate,  Mediator,  Intercessor  and  Redeem- 
er. If  all  prophets,  apostles  and  evangelists  have  not 
taught  this  with  the  greatest  clearness  from  the  be- 
ginning, I  will  gladly  bear  my  shame  and  reproof." 
(Exposition  of  Ps.  25:19.) 

The  writer  has  attempted  to  get  at  the  real  think- 
ing of  these  people  by  reading  a  large  variety  of  au- 
thors on  the  Reformation  Period  and  by  reading  wide- 
ly in  the  productions  of  the  Anabaptist  and  early  Men- 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  117 

nonite  leaders.  It  seemed  to  him  that  only  in  this  way- 
would  it  be  possible  to  get  at  the  probable  conceptions 
which  these  men  possessed  on  the  points  involved  in 
a  discussion  of  Christ's  Headship  of  the  Church.  The 
"proof  text"  method  avails  little  in  this  undertaking 
because  of  the  inconsistencies  due  to  the  conditions  of 
unrest  under  which  these  men  lived  and  labored. 

The  result  of  his  study  leads  the  writer  to  believe 
that  to  the  Anabaptist  and  early  Mennonite  leaders 
Jesus  Christ  was  the  Son  of  God  in  a  unique  sense ; 
that  He  had  been  with  the  Father  from  "the  begin- 
ning"; that  He  came  into  this  world  voluntarily  in 
order  to  carry  out  purposes  of  the  Father  which  could 
be  carried  out  in  no  other  way;  that  He  limited  Him- 
self in  order  to  take  this  step ;  that  He  came  as  a  man 
(human  being)  and  lived  as  a  man,  except  that  He 
remained  sinless ;  that,  having  died  the  natural  human 
death  on  the  cross,  He  was  buried ;  that  He  rose  from 
the  dead  ;  that  He  ascended  into  heaven,  which  means, 
that  He  has  returned  to  the  same  position  which  He 
held  before  He  limited  Himself  in  order  to  come  onto 
the  earth. 

Such  was  their  working  conception  of  the  personal- 
ity of  Jesus  Christ.  Some  of  the  reasons  why  they 
held  such  views  regarding  His  personality  will  come 
out  more  clearly  in  the  next  section  of  this  chapter, 
dealing  with  the  work  of  Jesus  Christ  as  these  men 
conceived  of  it. 


118        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

B.    Conceptions  of  Anabaptist  Leaders  Regarding 
Christ's  Work. 

According  to  these  leaders,  the  work  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  vitally  connected  with  the  fact  of  sin.  They 
thot  of  Him  as  having  had  a  share  in  the  creation 
(based  on  Heb.  1 :2  and  Eph.  3:9),  it  is  true,  but  they 
felt  that  His  supreme  work  was  the  '*re-creation"  or 
restoration  of  mankind,  which  was  made  necessary 
thru  the  entrance  of  sin  into  the  world. 

They  conceived  of  sin  as  selfish,  willful  disobe- 
dience. Thru  the  first  act  of  disobedience  on  the 
part  of  the  parents  of  the  race  "sin  with  all  its 
sad  consequences  came  into  the  world".  This  fact 
had  its  far-reaching  effects  upon  every  relation  of 
men,  ''first  of  all,  however,  for  our  first  parents  (Rom. 
5 :  12-21).  Through  it  they  fell  from  their  innocence  and 
were  filled  with  shame ;  in  the  place  of  their  filial 
reverence  and  open-heartedness  came  fear  and  pangs 
of  conscience  (Gen.  3:1-8)  ;  in  place  of  the  unrestrain- 
ed and  intimate  converse  with  God,  a  condition  of  anti- 
pathy and  estrangement  from  Him  (John  3  :20)  ;  yea, 
the  wrath  and  severity  of  the  holy  and  righteous  Crea- 
tor (Eph.  2:3).  Besides  the  peace  with  God  they  also 
lost  the  peace  with  their  surroundings,  they  must  pass 
under  the  sentence  of  death  (Rom.  5),  were  driven 
from  the  Garden  of  Eden,  the  way  to  the  tree  of  life 
was  closed  to  them  (Gen.  3:24),  the  earth  itself  was 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  119 

cursed  on  their  account,  and  they  were  doomed  to 
much  pain  and  hard  work  (Gen.  3:16-19)." 

"All  this  misery  and  wretchedness  was  passed  as  a 
natural  heritage  upon  all  their  posterity  (I  Cor.  15:21, 
22),  for  how  could  they  bring  forth  seed  different  from 
themselves  (Job  14:4;  John  3:6),  or  how  could  they 
transmit  prerogatives  which  they  themselves  had 
lost?  Therefore  we  believe  that  they  and  all  their  pos- 
terity in,  through  and  with  them  have  become  subject 
to  physical  (Rom.  5:14;  I  Cor.  15:21,  22),  spiritual 
(Eph.  4:18;  Jas.  1:15;  Rom.  7:13),  and  eternal  death 
(Rom.  6:23),  and  utterly  unable  to  be  saved  therefrom 
either  by  their  own  efforts  (Rom.  3:23;  Jer.  13:23) 
or  through  any  creature  (Ps.  49:7,  8).  In  this  miser- 
able condition  they  would  therefore  have  to  remain 
forever,  if  God  had  not  come  to  them  in  His  mercy. 
Ezek.  16:5,  6."  (Mennonite  Articles  of  Faith,  compiled 
and  stated  by  Cornelis  Ris,  Article  VIII.) 

The  Anabaptists  and  early  Mennonites  believed 
that  God  had  foreseen  this  deplorable  condition  but 
that  He  had  not  fore-willed  it  and  that  therefore  He 
was  not  responsible  to  man  after  the  relationship  be- 
tween them  had  been  broken  thru  sin.  They  do  not 
seem  to  have  taken  into  consideration  the  later  prob- 
lems of  whether  God  was  not  responsible  if  He  fore- 
knew that  man  would  sin,  or  whether  God  might 
not  have  willed  that  man  should  sin,  etc.  They  simply 
reasoned  that  thru  sin  man  had  forfeited  his  rights 


120        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

and  that  God  had  given  man  another  chance  thru  an 
act  of  grace  on  His  part.  This  act  of  grace  consisted 
in  sending  His  only  begotten  Son  upon  the  earth  for 
the  purpose  of  redeeming  man.  Here  is  where  the 
supreme  work  of  Jesus  Christ  sets  in  for  them.  They 
treated  the  subject  in  a  rather  general  way  and  there- 
fore one  does  not  always  find  the  fine  distinctions 
which  one  might  wish  for  in  order  to  settle  all  ques- 
tions which  arise  in  connection  with  this  study.  Their 
method  was  a  combination  of  literal  verbalism  and  a 
kind  of  practical  agnosticism.  In  attempting  to  settle 
difficult  questions  they  looked  for  "proof-texts"  in  the 
Bible  and  accepted  these  as  authority.  What  these 
did  not  make  clear  to  the  understanding  was  accepted 
in  suspended  judgment,  as  it  were.  The  foregoing 
statement  is  not  an  adverse  criticism  on  the  efforts  of 
these  honest  leaders,  they  were  not  alone  in  the  use 
of  it  and  were  in  a  less  advantageous  position  to 
use  better  methods  than  were  some  of  those  who 
used  this  same  method.  The  statement  was  made  in 
order  to  show  the  difficulty  of  applying  modern  inter- 
pretations to  their  statements  without  taking  into  con- 
sideration attendant  circumstances. 

According  to  the  conception  of  these  leaders  Adam 
and  Eve  still  had  a  capacity  for  a  promise  of  God. 
They  had  not  lost  everything.  There  was  still  a  pos- 
sibility for  a  new  start  on  the  basis  of  deciding  to  ac- 
cept God's  offer  of  grace.     That  is  why  we  find   so 


CONCEPTIONS   OF   THE   LEADERS  121 

much  of  the  thinking  of  these  leaders  occupying  itself 
with  freedom  of  will,  responsibility,  faith  and  love. 
These  were  all  considered  as  phases  of  the  man-side 
part  in  the  reestablishment  of  a  right  relationship  be- 
tween God  and  man  and  therefore  will  be  treated  more 
ftilly  in  the  next  section  of  this  chapter. 

It  was  a  part  of  the  conception  of  the  leaders  in 
question  to  believe  that  man  had  been  misled  and  that 
thru  this  misleading  he  had  fallen,  which  meant  that 
he  had  lost  his  standing  with  God,  not  that  he  had 
become  "drowned  in  sin',  as  Luther  expressed  it.  In 
the  face  of  this  situation  God  acted.  Wedel  states  the 
maiter  thus :  "Im  Willen  des  Vaters  ist  der  Mensch- 
heit  Heil  begriindet,  im  Werk  des  Sohnes  auf  Erden 
vollzogen  ;  durch  das  Wirken  des  Heiligen  Geistes  wird 
es  des  Menschen  Teil  und  Besitz."  Thus  the  work  of 
the  Christ  was  to  execute  the  will  of  the  Father  upon 
earth.  This,  in  the  minds  of  the  Anabaptist  leaders, 
made  Him  the  Chief  Executive  of  God's  work  upon 
earth  and  as  such  He  would  be  the  Head  of  whatever 
following  would  result  from  His  efiforts  in  carrying 
out  the  will  of  the  Father.  They  made  much  of  the 
personal,  intimate  relationship  between  God  and  man 
in  Eden  and  carried  that  same  idea  over  into  the  rela- 
tionship between  men  and  Jesus  Christ  under  the  new 
regime.  This  made  Jesus  Christ  their  Head  in  a  prac- 
tical rather  than  an  abstract  sense  as  will  be  seen  from 
their  conception  of  the  Church.     He  came   into  this 


122        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

world  to  carry  out  the  will  of  the  Father  in  helping- 
fallen  mankind  in  the  sense  that  He  fully  represented 
the  Father  in  the  regime  which  was  to  be  established 
upon  the  earth  under  the  new  conditions  which  had 
been  brot  about  by  the  fall  of  man.     In  this  sense 
He  was  conceived  of  as  King.     Henceforth  men  had 
to  look  to  Jesus  Christ  for  the  conditions  under  which 
they  might  enter  into  a   right   relationship   with   the 
Father,  i.  e.  become  members  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 
It  was  to  Him  also  that  they  would  have  to  look  for 
the  forgiveness  of  their  sins  by  way  of  preparation  for 
entrance    into   that   kingdom.      This    made    Him    the 
Court  of  last  Resort  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the 
relationship  between  God  and  any  man,  i.  e.  it  made 
Him  the  Judge  of  the  race  and  of  every  individual  in  it. 
Hence  they  looked  upon  anything  which  Jesus  had 
said  as  the  utterance  of  the  One  in  supreme  authority. 
As  the  Supreme  Authority  representing  God,  the 
Father,  in  His  grace,  Jesus  Christ  was  conceived  of 
as  the  final  Lawgiver.     His  law  was  the  law  of  love 
and  what  He  told  men  to  do  or  not  to  do  specifically 
was  told  them  in  order  that  they  might  become  more 
proficient  in  that  law  of  love.     Hence,  in  a  sense,  He 
was  considered  rather  an  administrator  or  a  reinter- 
pretator  of  the  law  of  God,  as  formerly  revealed.     It 
was  in  this  sense  that  Hans  Denck  and  Eitel  Hans 
Langenmantel  thot  of  Jesus  Christ  in  their  interpre- 
tations of  love.     Most  of  the  others  emphasized  this 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  123 

point  a  little  less  but  emphasized  the  other  more, 
namely  the  demands  which  Jesus  makes  upon  His  dis- 
ciples, i.  e.  any  followers.  His  authority  to  do  so  was 
not  questioned.  That  was  an  essential  part  of  the 
conception  of  His  work  and  any  one  who  did  not  place 
the  demands  of  Christ  first  in  the  ordering  of  his  life, 
thereby  gave  evidence  that  he  did  not  belong  to  the 
discipleship  of  God's  Plenipotentiary  upon  earth  and 
therefore  not  to  God.  To  what  situations  this  concep- 
tion of  Christ's  work  and  position  led  will  be  seen 
more  clearly  under  the  discussion  of  their  conception 
of  the  Church. 

The  representatives  of  the  Anabaptist  movement 
conceived  of  faith  as  being  the  supreme  demand  of 
Christ  upon  His  disciples.  This  was  not  a  mere  taking 
for  granted  that  what  He  had  said  about  Himself  was 
true.  It  was  an  act  of  willing  confidence  on  the  part 
of  men.  Without  this  attitude  no  one  could  be  saved, 
i.  e.  no  one  could  accept  the  grace  of  God  and  get  into 
a  right  relationship  with  Him.  In  this  sense  their 
faith  was  a  reverent  fear  of  God  as  seen  in  Jesus 
Christ.  They  left  no  hope  for  the  man  who  simply 
believed,  took  for  granted  that  what  the  Bible  said 
concerning  Jesus  Christ  was  true,  but  classed  him  with 
the  devils  who  also  had  such  "faith".  Hence  it  is  clear 
why  they  laid  so  much  stress  upon  sincere  repentance. 
They  took  Mark  1 :15,  "Repent  ye,  and  believe,"  very 
literally.     They  believed  the  "imagination  of  a  man's 


124        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

heart  is  evil  from  his  youth  up"  (Gen.  8:21)  and 
that  therefore  he  needs  to  repent  and  to  strive  for  the 
betterment  of  his  life,  which  can  be  accomplished  thru 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  Having  repented  and  decided, 
with  the  help  of  Christ,  to  lead  a  good  life,  he  was  to 
be  baptized  and  to  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  In  no 
case  was  a  man  to  think  that  these  or  any  other  cere- 
monies would  help  him  unless  he  had  repented  and 
believed  on  Christ.  (Cf.  Christliche  Glaubens-Be- 
kenntnis,  T.  T.  V.  S.  pp.  llfif.)  When  a  man  had  so 
repented  they  took  it  for  granted  that  he  had  received 
pardon  from  God.  On  account  of  this  pardon  he  was 
recognized  as  a  child  of  God  and  therefore  eligible  to 
membership  in  the  community.  Having  thus  confessed 
publicly  that  he  believed  with  all  his  heart  "other 
foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid,  which  is 
Jesus  Christ"  (I  Cor. 3  ill),  he  was  henceforth  expected 
to  show  by  a  consistent  life  that  he  continued  to  be- 
lieve this,  for  it  was  taken  for  granted  that  Christ's 
demand  for  faith  meant  more  than  a  mere  oral  pro- 
fession. The  members  were  frequently  reminded  that 
"where  sincere  and  true  faith  is,  which  avails  before 
God,  which  is  a  gift  from  Him  and  comes  from  hearing 
the  Holy  Word,  through  the  blossoming  tree  of  life,  full 
of  all  manner  of  precious  fruits  of  righteousness,  such 
as  the  fear  and  love  of  God,  mercy,  friendship,  chastity, 
temperance,  humility,  candor,  truth,  peace  and  joy  in 
the  Holy  Ghost  etc.,  there  is  a  sincere,  evangelical. 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  125 

pious  faith;  there  also  are  the  fruits  of  an  evangelical 
nature."  Men  were  taught  that  they  should  submissive- 
ly believe  and  follow  the  Word  of  God,  however  he- 
retical and  ridiculous  it  might  appear  to  them,  not  mur- 
muring against  the  Lord  because  they  did  not  under- 
stand why  He  had  so  commanded  it.  This  was  a  very 
serious  matter  with  these  people  and  we  find  many 
references  to  it  in  the  writings  of  the  more  prominent 
leaders,  e.  g.  Menno  Simon  says :  "I  testify  the  truth 
to  you  in  Christ  and  lie  not.  All  who  hear  not  the 
voice  of  Christ,  believe  not  His  Holy  Word,  follow  not 
His  pure,  unblamable  life,  from  the  whole  heart,  in  all 
humility,  patience,  meekness,  obedience  and  love, 
have  not  the  living  faith  of  Moses,  but  are,  after  the 
contents  of  his  doctrine,  already  judged.  O  reader, 
beware,  neither  money,  name  nor  boasting  will  avail 
you,  but  power  and  deeds,  if  you  wish  to  be  saved  and 
not  condemned."  (Cf.  Menno  Simon  on  Faith,  Com- 
plete Works,  pp.  llSfiF.) 

This  emphasis  on  faith  was  so  strong  because  they 
believed  that  Christ  demanded  it.  This  was  not  a 
matter  of  mere  slavish  submission,  however,  for  they 
believed  that  this  faith  was  possible  because  of  God's 
gracious  willingness  to  help  men  and  therefore  it  was 
considered  evidence  of  gross  ingratitude  toward  God 
not  to  accept  the  opportunity  to  have  such  faith  and 
to  live  accordingly. 

There  seems  to  have  been  no  disposition  to  distin- 
3 


126        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

guish  between  faith  in  God  and  faith  in  Jesus  Christ. 
That   was   a   question   about   which   some   may   have 
wondered  now  and  then  but  does  not  seem  to  be  one 
which  came  up  for  very  serious  consideration  at  the 
time  with  which  we  are  especially  concerned.     These 
leaders  and  their  followers  were  too  much  concerned 
with  the  emphasis  on  the  ethical  side  of  that  which 
was  expected  of  them  as  followers  of  Christ.     Besides 
there  was  a  tendency  to  consider  the  pondering  of 
metaphysical  questions  as  dangerous.     To  them  Jesus 
Christ  was  one  with  the  Father  and  fully  represented 
the  latter.     This  was  sufficient  for  them.     The  two 
prime  reasons  for  this  attitude  were  probably  the  feel- 
ing of  insecurity  in  undertaking  the  solution  of  meta- 
physical questions  and  the  powerful  reaction  against 
the  learned  theologians  of  their  day  who  spent  their 
time  and  their  powers  in  making  subtle  distinctions 
and  then  lived  as  tho  the  facts  of  God  and  of  Jesus 
Christ  were   in  no  way  connected  with  the   lives   of 
people  who  knew  about  them. 

Another  demand  of  Jesus  which  was  taken  very 
literally  by  these  people  was  that  of  surrender.  When 
a  man  confessed  to  be  a  follower  of  Christ  he  thereby 
gave  evidence  that  he  was  willing  to  give  up  every- 
thing which  He  might  require.  This  probably  accounts 
for  the  spirit  of  martyrdom  which  was  so  evident 
among  the  members  of  this  movement.  They  prayed 
to  God  in  Christ's  name  and  they  lived  for  God  as 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  127 

they  knew  Him  thru  Christ  because  they  felt  that  they 
could  not  be  children  of  God  aside  from  this  attitude 
toward  Christ.  They  believed  very  literally  that 
"there  is  no  limit  to  the  sacrifice  which  the  purity  of 
heart  demands."  For  them,  also  *'To  be  in  Christ  is 
to  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit  .  .  .  To 
be  in  Christ  means  to  realize  and  to  try  to  fulfill  one's 
obligations  to  the  various  material  and  social  relations 
in  which  he  is  providentially  placed."  (The  Christian 
Doctrine  of  Salvation,  Stevens,  pp.  463-4.) 

In  this  their  attitude  of  complete  surrender  to 
Christ  they  seemed  to  have  felt  that  they  were  simply 
complying  with  what  He  had  a  perfect  right  to  expect 
of  any  one  who  professed  His  lordship.  In  so  doing 
they  implied  their  belief  in  the  fact  that  Christ  imposes 
a  test  of  character  when  He  speaks  of  those  who  are 
"worthy  of  Him".  How  strongly  they  insisted  upon 
a  recognition  of  this  fact  will  be  shown  more  fully 
in  the  section  dealing  with  their  conception  of  the 
Church. 

Whatever  conceptions  these  leaders  expressed  con- 
cerning the  work  of  Christ  found  their  center  in  the 
fact  that  He  had  brot  salvation  to  men  by  becom- 
ing the  means  of  their  redemption  from  sin.  In  regard 
to  this  redemption  (Wiederaufrichtung)  and  recon- 
ciliation (Versohnung)  of  men  they  believed  that  God 
did  not  desire  to  reject  (verwerfen)  mankind  entirely, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  had  sinned  and  that  they 


128        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

possessed  no  means  of  redeeming  themselves,  but  that 
He  called  them  again  and  comforted  them,  showing 
that  He  still  had  means  for  their  reconciliation,  namely 
the  ''unspotted  Lamb  of  God",  who  was  provided  (ver- 
sehen)  before  the  beginning  of  the  world  and  was 
promised  to  them  and  to  their  descendants  for  their 
comfort,  redemption  and  salvation  when  they  were 
in  Paradise,  and  who  has  since  been  given  them  thru 
faith.  ''For  this  Promised  One  the  forefathers  longed 
and  looked  for  Him  through  faith  that  He  should  come 
to  redeem,  make  free  and  uplift  (aufhelfen)  mankind 
from  their  guilt  (Schuldt)  and  unrighteousness."  (For 
the  complete  text  of  this  summary  see  Appendix  IV.} 

The  foregoing  shows,  as  they  emphasized  so  often, 
that  these  leaders  believed  the  grace  of  God  to  be  the 
ground  of  salvation,  but  at  the  same  time  they  placed 
strong  emphasis  upon  the  fact  that  man  must  respond 
to  God's  advances  in  order  to  make  salvation  effective. 
They  were  accustomed  to  emphasize  this  double  fact 
with  the  statement  that  if  people  did  not  live  in  ac- 
cordance with  what  it  implied  that  "the  precious  blood 
of  Christ  had  been  shed  in  vain." 

In  attempting  to  sulve  the  problem  of  salvation 
they  laid  great  stress  upon  the  "prophecies  concerning 
the  Christ."  The  following  quotation  from  Stevens 
(The  Christian  Doctrine  of  Salvation,  p.  34)  is  a  very 
suggestive  approximation  of  their  conclusions  on  this 
point:    "Let  us  now  summarize  the  elements  of  pro- 


CONCEPTIONS    OF   THE   LEADERS  129 

phetic  teaching  which  approximate  most  closely  to  tl-e 
Christian  doctrine  of  salvation.  They  are  chiefly  these : 
(1)  Salvation  is  not  primarily  a  national  or  collective, 
but  an  individual  affair.  (2)  It  is,  above  all,  an  ethiciil 
process — the  recovery  of  the  life  from  sin  to  harmony 
with  God  through  moral  likeness  to  Him.  (3)  The  con- 
ditions on  which  this  salvation  must  be  realized  are  ac- 
cordingly moral.  Man  connot  be  set  right  before  God 
by  any  ceremony  or  transaction  performed  on  his  be- 
half. He  must  personally  repent  of  his  sin  and  forsake 
it.  (4)  But  in  so  doing  man  can  never  anticipate  the 
grace  of  God  nor  does  he  achieve  his  salvation  without 
the  divine  aid.  (5)  The  experience  of  the  righteous 
bearing  the  sins  of  the  unrighteous  in  Israel  is  adapted 
to  suggest  the  thought  of  a  divine  vicarious  suffering 
in  which  a  greater  than  human  love  should  take  the 
woes  and  burdens  of  sinful  men  upon  itself."  The 
acknowledgment  of  this  completed  work  of  Christ  they 
conceived  of  as  being  equivalent  to  eternal  life,  for 
instance  Dirk  Philipps  says :  "Dieses  ist  nun  die  rechte 
Erkenntniss  Christi  Jesu,  die  audi  das  ewige  Leben  ist, 
gleichwie  Christus  selber  sagt :  'Das  ist  das  ewige  Le- 
ben, (o  Vater)  dass  sie  dich,  der  du  allein  wahrer  Gott 
bist,  und  den  du  gesandt  hast,  Jesum  Christum,  erken- 
nen.'  1.  Joh.  5.e;  Gal.  3.d ;  Joh.  17. a.  (Enchiridion,  p. 
148.)  He  immediately  adds,  however:  "Aber  diese  Er- 
kenntniss ist  nicht  eine  historische  Wissenschaft  von 
Christo,  wie  viele  meinen,   sondern  ein  lebendig  und 


130        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

kraftiges  Werk  Gottes  in  dem  Menschen,  dadurch  er 
verandert  neu  aus  Gott  gebohren,  und  mit  dem  Heili- 
gen  Geist  erleuchtet  und  begabet  wird,  also  dass  er  ge- 
sinnet  ist,  wie  Christus  Jesus,  dessen  Bruder  und  Mit- 
genosse  er  aus  Gnaden  durch  den  Glauben  und  die 
neue  Geburt  geworden  ist."  This  addition  is  signifi- 
cant because  it  is  so  characteristic  of  the  movement  in 
that  it  shows  that  these  people  were  more  concerned 
about  the  practical  application  of  the  work  of  Christ 
than  they  were  in  an  intellectually  satisfactory  con- 
ception of  just  how  this  work  had  been  accomplished. 

If  one  were  to  base  his  conclusions  entirely  upon 
verbal  quotations  from  the  writings  of  these  men  one 
might  be  inclined  to  think  that  they  believed  in  a  lit- 
eral transfer  of  the  sins  of  men  to  Christ,  but  when 
one  has  read  widely  in  order  to  come  to  a  fuller  under- 
standing of  their  real  thinking  on  this  point,  one  hard- 
ly feels  justified  in  maintaining  too  positively  that  they 
believed  in  such  a  literal  transfer. 

They  were  too  much  disinclined  toward  ceremonies 
to  fall  victims  to  the  easy  method  of  a  literal  transfer 
of  the  sins  of  men  to  Christ.  It  is  usually  taken,  and 
to  the  writer  it  seems,  rightly  so,  that  for  such  who 
retain  strenuous  moral  ideas  of  religion  this  cannot  be 
a  fully  satisfactory  method,  however  highly  they  may 
appreciate  the  atoning  work  of  Jesus  Christ.  To  such 
there  still  remains  the  responsibility  of  concentrating 
their  wills  upon  the  kind  of  living  which  is  in  accord- 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  131 

ance  with  the  will  of  Christ.  Judged  according  to  this 
idea  the  writer  is  not  inclined  to  believe  that  these 
early  writers  were  developing  in  the  direction  of  any 
belief  concerning  Christ's  atonement  which  could  in 
any  way  be  classified  as  crass  literalism.  Besides  there 
are  also  indications  that  they  looked  upon  the  suffer- 
ings of  Christ  as  resulting  from  the  products  of  sin 
rather  than  from  a  literal  transfer. 

The  language  which  they  use  in  speaking  of  this 
act  of  Christ  illustrates  rather  than  defines  what  it 
meant  to  them,  e.  g. :  ''J^sus  Christ  the  all-sufficient 
and  eternal  offering" ;  "The  Propitiator  and  Mediator 
of  the  New  Testament"  ;  ''The  gracious  Father  be  eter- 
nally praised  that  He  has  given  ...  us  to  know  the 
only  and  eternal  offering  of  His  Son,  Jesus  Christ, 
who,  according  to  the  order  of  Melchizedek,  is  or- 
dained an  eternal  High  Priest  over  the  house  of  God  ; 
who,  in  the  days  of  His  flesh,  offered  up  prayers  and 
supplications  with  strong  crying  and  tears,  unto  Him 
that  was  able  to  save  from  death,  and  was  heard,  be- 
cause He  honored  God.  This  One,  I  say,  offered  an 
acceptable  offering,  a  sweet  smelling  sacrifice,  of  eter- 
nal worth,  whereby  He  appeases  the  Father's  wrath, 
reconciles  the  human  race,  opened  heaven,  closed  hell ; 
made  peace  between  heaven  and  earth  and  sits  now 
and  henceforth  at  the  right  hand  of  His  Father  till  His 
enemies  be  made  His  foot-stool ;  yea,  with  this  one 
offering  He  has  perfected  forever  all  those  who  are 


132        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

sanctified.  This  cannot  be  gainsayed,  whether  by  em- 
peror or  king,  doctor  or  teacher,  angel  or  devil.  His 
Word  stands  firm  and  immovable.  He  has  with  one 
offering — I  say,  with  one  offering — perfected  forever 
those  who  are  sanctified."  "Christ,  the  true  remedy 
for  sin";  "our  only  and  eternal  Mediator,  Advocate, 
High  Priest,  Propitiator  and  Intercessor,  our  Head  and 
Brother."  "Thou  didst  send  Thy  beloved  Son,  the  dear 
pledge  of  Thy  grace,  who  preached  Thy  Word,  ful- 
filled Thy  righteousness,  accomplished  Thy  will,  bore 
our  sins,  blotted  them  out  with  His  blood,  and  brought 
about  reconciliation,  conquered  the  devil,  hell,  sin  and 
death  and  obtained  grace,  mercy,  favor  and  peace  for 
all  who  truly  believe  on  Him ;  His  command  is  eternal 
life."  "Christ  was  given  to  us  and  died  for  us."  "He 
bore  all  our  sins  upon  the  cross  in  His  own  body  and 
our  debt  He  blotted  out  by  His  blood."  "O  ever  living 
God,  through  the  mercies  of  Thy  Son  and  through  the 
riches  of  Thy  grace  we  receive  the  remission  of  our 
sins ;  yea,  through  His  blood  Thou  didst  reconcile  all 
upon  earth  and  in  heaven  above."  "Darnach  so  ist  es 
alien  Christen  notig  zu  bedenken  und  die  Ursach  zu  er- 
wagen,  warum  dass  die  Wahrheit  Gottes,  das  Wort 
Gottes,  und  der  vSohn  des  Allerhochsten,  sich  also  er- 
niedriget  hat,  und  ein  Mensch  worden  ist,  namlich, 
zum  ersten,  unsere  Siind  hinweg  zu  nehmen." 

Just  as  with  Paul  and  other  writers  of  the  early 
ciuirch.  it  is  but  fair  to  suppose  that  many  of  the  terms 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  133 

which  they  used  had  for  them  a  practical  and  a  re- 
ligious rather  than  a  metaphysical  meaning,  so  also 
with  the  leaders  during  the  Reformation  Period.  This 
was  especially  true  of  such  men  who  emphasized  the 
ethical  and  moral  side  of  Christianity  as  did  so  many 
of  the  Anabaptist  and  early  Mennonite  leaders. 

"The  faith  of  the  church  being  an  act  of  life's  self- 
committal  and  worship  is  more  than  a  posthumous 
impression  left  by  Christ."  (Forsythe,  The  Person  and 
Place  of  Jesus  Christ,  p.  151.)  This  was  certainly  true 
of  these  Anabaptist  and  early  Mennonite  leaders.  They 
not  only  believed  that  Jesus  Christ  had  died  for  the 
sins  of  men  but  also  that  He  had  been  raised  from  the 
dead.  They  persistently  emphasized  the  fact  that  "He 
was  delivered  up  for  our  tresspasses,  and  was  raised 
for  our  justification."  Rom.  4:25.  To  them  the  resur- 
rection was  "the  Father's  Amen  to  Jesus'  Tt  is  fin- 
ished'." (Wedel,  Meditationen,  p.  162.)  They  con- 
ceived of  Him  as  having  risen  from  the  dead,  as  victor 
over  sin  and  death,  and  as  having  returned  to  the  Fa- 
ther, thus  entering  in  "once  for  all  into  the  holy  place, 
having  obtained  eternal  redemption."  Heb.  9:12.  They 
did  not  conceive  this  removal  of  Christ  from  the  earth 
as  equivalent  to  His  withdrawal  from  His  active  in- 
terest in  men.  Thru  the  ascension  He  became  an  Ad- 
vocate with  the  Father  and  continued  His  offices  of 
Prophet,  High  Priest  and  King. 

x\s  Prophet  He  was  thot  to  continue  His  work  of 


134        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

teaching  by  means  of  His  Holy  Word  and  thru  "the 
Spirit  according  to  His  promise,  both  convincing  and 
winning  the  unbelieving  and  leading  the  believers  into 
all  truth..  John  16:13.  In  this  work  the  Spirit  never 
contradicts  the  true  meaning  of  the  written  Word 
(Jas.  3:11;  1 :17),  but  enlightens  the  believer's  mind  to 
a  right  understanding  of  the  Word  (Luke  24:45), 
gives  them  assurance  of  its  truth  and  brings  to  re- 
membrance the  things  that  the  Lord  has  spoken.  John 
14:26."     (Ris,  Die  Glaubens-Lehre,  Article  14.) 

The  work  of  Christ  as  High  Priest  is  epitomized  as 
follows  in  the  Mennonite  catechisms :  "He  gave  Him- 
self an  offering;  He  intercedes  for  His  people  and 
blesses  His  own."  Eph.  5:2;  Heb.  9:26;  John  17; 
Rom.  8:34;  Luke  24:50;  Eph.  1:3.  Ris,  in  his  Glau- 
bens-Lehre (Article  15),  after  speaking  of  Christ's 
work  as  High  Priest  upon  earth  says :  "Thereafter  He 
ascended  into  heaven  as  a  triumphant  victor  (Eph.  4:8; 
Col.  2:15)  before  the  eyes  of  all  His  faithful  apostles 
(Luke  24:50-52)  and  sat  down  at  the  right  hand  of  the 
Father  (Mark.  16:19)  crowned  with  honor  and  glory. 
Heb.  2:9;  John  17:5. 

"There,  and  thus  clothed.  He  continues  His  holy 
office  as  our  high  priest.  Heb.  8:1.  For  as  He  is  the 
servant  of  the  true  tabernacle.  He  has  entered  not 
through  the  blood  of  calves  and  goats,  but  through  His 
own  blood,  once  into  heaven  itself  (Heb.  9:11,  24)  to 
appear  before  the  face  of  God  in  behalf  of  the  believers. 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  135 

Wherefore  He  is  called  of  God  a  high  priest  for  ever 
after  the  order  of  Melchizedeck  (Heb.  5  :10;  Ps.  110-4) 
to  the  great  comfort  of  the  believers  in  their  infirmities. 
Heb.  4:14-16,  And  as  He  has  an  everlasting  priesthood, 
since  He  abides  forever,  He  is  able  to  save  to  the  utter- 
most them  that  come  unto  God  through  Him,  seeing 
that  He  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  them.  Heb. 
7:24,25;  I  John  2:1,2. 

''Lastly.  As  it  was  the  part  of  the  high  priest,  after 
completing  the  ofifering  of  atonement,  to  return  to  the 
waiting  and  praying  people  to  bless  them,  so  Christ, 
the  great  High  Priest,  is  continually  bestowing  upon 
His  Own  the  fruit,  the  power,  and  the  sufihciency  of 
His  sacrifice  that  they  may  benefit  by  them.  Acts  3  \26. 
Having  the  power  and  the  right  to  forgive  sins  (Mark 
2:10;  Matt.  28:18),  He  grants  this  blessing  to  the 
penitent  (Acts  5:31)  ;  through  His  blood  of  sprinkling 
He  purges  the  conscience  from  dead  works  (Heb.  9 :14) 
and  thus  gives  boldness  and  confidence  to  draw  nigh 
unto  God.  Eph.  3:12.  He  baptizes  them  with  His 
Spirit  (John  1:33),  holds  spiritual  and  intimate  com- 
munion with  them  (Rev.  3:20;  John  14:21-23),  yea, 
and  He  makes  His  holy  and  redeemed  people  them- 
selves to  be  a  royal  priesthood  to  offer  up  spiritual 
sacrifices  acceptable  to  God.    I  Pet.  2:5,  9. 

"From  all  this  follows  self-evidently  that  the  Levit- 
ical  priesthood  (Heb.  10:5-9)  and  with  it  the  cere- 
monial law,  has  been  fulfilled,  has  come  to  an  end,  and 


136        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

has  been  abolished.  The  law  had  only  the  shadow  of 
good  things  to  come  (Heb.  10:1)  and  it  ended  in  Christ 
(Rom.  10:4)  to  whom  be  glory  forever.  Amen!"  (Ar- 
ticle XV.) 

Since  the  foregoing  quotations  are  based  quite  di- 
rectly upon  the  beliefs  and  conceptions  of  the  earliest 
Mennonite  leaders  they  give  us  perhaps  the  clearest 
insight  into  the  conceptions  of  those  leaders  concern- 
ing Christ  as  High  Priest.  The  same  is  also  true  of 
their  conceptions  concerning  His  Kingship.  Of  this 
the  Mennonite  catechisms  say,  "He  gives  commands 
and  laws ;  He  governs  His  people ;  He  puts  all  His 
enemies  under  His  feet;  He  protects  and  rewards  His 
own."  John  13:34;  Jer.  23:5;  I  Cor.  15:25;  Matt.  25: 
34.  And  Ris,  in  his  Glaubens-Lehre,  Article  16,  says 
of  the  kingly  office  of  Christ:  "The  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
as  the  one  promised  and  heavenly  King  of  the  new 
covenant  (Ps.  2:6;  Jer.  23:5;  Luke  1:32,  33),  having 
by  His  glorious  resurrection  proved  Himself  victor 
over  the  devil,  over  death  and  the  grave  (Col.  2:15; 
Luke  24:47),  yet  more  especially  when  He  ascended 
on  high  (Eph.  4:8)  entered  into  His  glory  (Luke  24: 
26),  and  sat  down  on  the  right  hand  of  His  Father  in 
heaven  (Heb.  1 :3)  of  which  He  gave  the  strongest 
proof  when  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  He  poured  forth 
abundantly  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  His  apostles.  (Acts 
2 :33-36. 


CONCEPTIONS   OF   THE    LEADERS  137 

"Thenceforth  the  kingdom  of  God  came  with  power 
so  that  from  that  day  on,  through  the  instrumentality 
of  the  apostles  great  numbers  of  believing  and  spiritu- 
aiiy-minded  people  were  gathered  (Acts  2:41,  47;  4:32, 
33)  who  confessed  Jesus  Christ  as  their  Lord  to  the 
glory  of  God  the  Father.   Phil.  2:9-11. 

"The  spiritual  kingdom,  generally  called  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  the  Lord  Jesus  has  committed  in  part 
to  His  servants  here  on  earth  to  administer  according 
to  the  spiritual  laws  of  His  kingdom.  Eph.  4:11,  12; 
I  Pet.  5  :l-4.  Yet,  above  all  and  in  particular  He  Him- 
self administers  the  same  direct  from  heaven.  He 
rules  the  hearts  of  His  people  through  the  Holy  Spirit 
(John  16:13;  14:26),  in  accordance  with  His  Word, 
with  passionate  love ;  He  protects  and  shelters  them 
as  under  His  wings,  equips  them  with  spiritual  weap- 
ons against  His  and  their  enemies  (Eph.  6:11-18)  and 
is  to  them  a  very  present  help  in  trouble  so  that  in 
Him  they  are  more  than  conquerors  (Rom.  8:37)  ;  He 
prepares  for  them  a  place  in  heaven  (John  14:2)  and 
will,  by  grace,  give  victory  and  a  crown  of  righteous- 
ness in  the  life  eternal  (H  Tim.  4:7,  8)  to  all  who  con- 
tinue faithful  to  Him  in  the  spiritual  conflict  with  sin 
and  Satan  (Rev.  2:10;  Matt.  24:13),  but  His  enemies 
He  will  put  under  His  feet.   Matt.  22:24." 

Such  was  the  nature  of  the  work  of  which  these 
Anabaptist   leaders   considered   Christ   the   Head   and 


138        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

Author.  Thru  Him  they  saw  God  in  His  authority, 
His  holiness  and  His  love  supremely  revealed  so  that 
Christ  stood  in  God's  place  for  them,  yet  not  so  as  to 
displace  God.  Christ  had  become  the  point  of  contact, 
as  it  were,  between  God  and  men.  He  had  revealed  to 
men  that  God  loved  them  infinitely  more  than  they 
thot  possible  and  had  shown  them  that  they  might  get 
much  closer  to  the  heart  of  God  than  they  had  dared 
to  hope. 

In  the  thinking  of  these  men,  Christ,  the  Prophet- 
Teacher,  taught  men  the  truth  as  it  had  never  been 
taught  before ;  revealed  to  them  the  possibilities  before 
men  as  they  had  never  been  revealed  before  and  sub- 
stantiated both  His  teachings  and  His  revelations  with 
miraculous  deeds.  As  High  Priest  He  made  a  supreme 
and  all-sufficient  offering  of  Himself  so  that  in  some 
way  He  passed  thru  an  experience  for  them  and  thus 
made  it  possible  for  men  to  be  saved  from  the  doom 
of  eternal  separation  from  God.  In  passing  thru  this 
experience  He  in  some  way  suffered  for  them  or  in 
their  stead ;  paid  a  price  for  them  and  gave  up  His 
life  for  them.  All  of  this  made  these  leaders  empha- 
size the  need  and  the  fitness  of  a  grateful  response  to 
God  because  of  what  He  had  done  for  mankind  thru 
Christ.  As  High  Priest  Christ  was  also  conceived  of 
as  continuing  His  work  of  intercession  in  behalf  of 
men  before  God.  As  King  He  had  established  a  new 
regime  on  earth.    Of  this  He  was  and  is  the  supreme 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  139 

authority.  This  "kingdom"  is  spiritual  and  not  "car- 
nal". This  latter  fact  was  very  emphatically  presented 
as  will  be  seen  in  the  following  section.  It  was  in  the 
interpretation  of  this  idea  that  their  conception  of 
Christ's  Headship  of  the  Church  was  most  clearly  re- 
vealed because  it  touched  more  directly  upon  matters 
uppermost  in  their  lives. 

C.    Conceptions  of  Anabaptist  and  Early  Mennonite 
Leaders  Regarding  the  Church. 

These  leaders  saw  in  Jesus  Christ,  as  did  the  Apos- 
tle Paul,  the  Head  and  Founder  of  a  new  spiritual 
humanity;  His  life  was  the  perfect  type  of  God-like 
living;  He  was  the  Captain  of  their  salvation  and  the 
Leader  in  whose  foot-steps  they  strove  to  follow.  He 
had  become  the  cause  for  such  a  conception  on  the 
part  of  men  before  He  left  His  earthly  ministry  and 
had  sent  these  men  out  into  a  world  of  spiritual  mal- 
adjustments in  order  to  bring  His  message  as  "Good 
News"  to  that  world.  According  to  Ritschl,  the  aim 
of  Christ  is  realized  thru  the  founding  and  the  up- 
building of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  which  is 
the  community  of  the  God-like,  the  fellowship  of  those 
who  share  Christ's  spirit  in  the  life  of  conscious  Son- 
ship  to  God. 

This  work  which  Christ  had  started  as  an  expres- 
sion of  His  aim  with  the  world  had  progressed  rapidly 
for  a  few  generations,  but  after  the  lapse  of  fifteen 


140        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

centuries  there  was  another  case  of  mal-adjustment. 
It  was  similar  to  that  which  Christ  had  found  in  the 
Jewish  Church  when  He  began  to  establish  His 
Church  upon  earth.  Again,  it  was  not  the  enemies  from 
without,  but  the  enemies  from  within  who  were  ham- 
pering the  work  of  God  on  earth.  ''The  ancient  Church 
had  turned  its  conclusions  (dogmata)  into  weapons  of 
discipline,  wielded  by  a  centralized  power."  This  con- 
dition of  affairs  was  evidently  satisfactory  to  those 
who  saw  little  or  no  connection  between  the  Church 
and  spiritual  life  as  it  grows  out  of  real  and  personal 
fellowship  with  Jesus  Christ,  but  there  were  those  who 
insisted  upon  such  a  connection  and  the  result  was 
the  Reformation.  ''With  the  Reformation  came  a  new 
conception  of  the  Christian  life  .  .  .  Luther  and  the 
other  great  reformers  maintained  that  they  were  loyal 
to  the  councils  of  the  early  Church.  The  Decree  of 
Chalcedon  stood  forth  for  them  all  as  the  supreme  ut- 
terance of  the  Christological  utterances  of  the  Church. 
But  this  loyalty  to  the  councils  was  conditioned  by 
the  idea  that  the  councils  simply  explained  the  Scrip- 
ture, and  were  authoritative  only  in  so  far  as  Scripture 
supported  them.  The  reformers  completely  disowned 
the  notion  that  the  official  Church  had  power  to  de- 
velope  and  enforce  an  authoritative  theology.  The 
central  fact  for  the  reformers  is  that  Christian  faith 
is  a  living  experience,  made  possible  by  the  full  reve- 
lation of  God  in  the  historic  Christ.    Apart  from  Him 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  141 

there  is  no  saving  knowledge  in  God."  (Dr.  MacKen- 
zie,  Jesus  Christ,  Cyclopedia  of  ReHgion  and  Ethics, 
p.  539.) 

Unfortunately  Luther  and  other  reformers  left  this 
position  when  prudence  seemed  to  dictate  that  they 
should  lean  upon  the  same  kind  of  external  authority 
which  they  had  condemned  in  the  Roman  Church. 
Until  this  occurred  the  Anabaptists  remained  with  the 
reformers,  and  they  found  it  difficult  to  adjust  them- 
selves to  their  new  problems  when  they  found  that 
the  reformers  had  given  up  this  position  for  which 
they  had  risked  so  much  in  the  beginning  and  which 
was  so  dear  to  the  hearts  of  the  people,  especially  to 
those  who  had  become  saturated  with  the  truths  of 
the  Bible.  The  latter  studied  the  situation  from  a 
new  view-point,  for  they  had  rediscovered  the  Christ 
who  had  been  hidden  from  them  by  the  ceremonies  of 
the  Church  of  Rome.  The  result  was  that  there  was 
a  new  Church  arising  as  a  protest  against  that  which 
hid  the  Christ,  the  Head  of  the  true  Church.  This 
protest,  resulting  from  the  study  of  the  Bible,  needs 
to  be  distinguished  from  other  protests  of  that  time 
arising  from  other  causes.  With  the  latter  it  was  usu- 
ally a  question  of  which  human  authority  should  be 
accepted,  but  in  the  case  of  the  spiritually-minded 
Anabaptists  it  was  a  question  as  to  whether  any  Hu- 
man authority  should  continue  to  rule  the  Church  or 
whether  Jesus   Christ   was   to   be   recognized   as   the 


142        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

Head  of  the  Church  in  fact  as  well  as  in  theory.  Their 
protest  was  a  reaction  against  the  inconsistency  which 
Dr.  MacKenzie  points  out  when  he  says :  "Constan- 
tine  took  the  portentous  step  of  summoning  the  Coun- 
cil, and,  for  the  spiritual  religion,  the  baneful  step  of 
using  the  fleshly  arm  for  enforcing  its  conclusions.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  these  acts  of  Constantine 
introduced  a  new  principle  into  the  organized  life  of 
the  Church  of  so  potent  a  character  that  it  took  long 
centuries  to  unfold  its  inner  logic.  Trust  in  the  State 
and  trust  in  the  ruling  Spirit  of  Christ  are  principles 
whose  reconciliation  is  not  yet  achieved  either  at  Rome 
or  at  Berlin."  (Jesus  Christ,  Cyclop,  of  Religion  and 
Ethics,  p.  535.) 

This  suggestion  is  of  special  interest  in  view  of 
recent  developments  and  makes  one  appreciate  tbe 
attitude  of  these  Anabaptist  leaders  all  the  more.  In 
spite  of  their  contribution  to  the  world  men  have  con- 
tinued to  allow  themselves  to  be  led  astray  by  the 
will-o'-the-wisp  of  a  possible  satisfactory  fusion  of 
Church  and  State.  Is  it  not  worthy  of  our  time  and 
effort  that  we  should  attempt  to  estimate  the  bearing 
that  their  attitude  might  have  had  on  the  present 
world  situation  if  that  attitude  had  been  appreciated? 
To  be  sure,  such  thinking  will  not  change  the  effects 
of  wrong  committed  and  of  right  neglected,  but  it 
may  stimulate  the  desire  of  those  who  would  refrain 
from  passing  down  to  posterity  the  kind  of  heritage 


CONCEPTIONS   OF   THE   LEADERS  143 

which  the  enemies  of  the  Anabaptists  have  left  to  this 
age. 

These  people  believed  in  a  visible  Church  (Ge- 
meine)  of  God  consisting  of  those  who  had  repented 
fully,  who  had  correct  faith,  had  been  baptized  cor- 
rectly, are  united  with  God  and  are  members  of  the 
community  of  saints  on  earth.  These  they  considered 
as  the  "elect",  the  "kingly  priesthood",  "a  holy  peo- 
ple", "the  Bride  of  Christ"  and  the  children  and  heirs 
of  eternal  life ;  a  tabernacle,  a  tent  and  "Wohnstadt" 
of  God,  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and 
prophets,  of  which  Christ  Himself  is  the  corner-stone. 
(Cf.  Christliches  Glaubensbekenntnis,  T.  T.  V.  S., 
pp.  13ff.) 

Back  of  this  language,  as  seen  thru  the  lives 
which  they  lived,  we  see  a  deep  conviction  that  in 
spiritual  matters  Christ  alone  is  and  can  be  the  real 
Head.  This  conception  of  Christ  finally  influenced 
their  conceptions  of  all  the  agencies  of  religion  and 
even  society  with  which  they  were  brot  into  contact. 
Because  they  failed  to  find  this  emphasis  in  any  of  the 
established  churches  they  began  the  difficult  work  of 
starting  a  new  organization.  We  must  distinguish 
here  between  the  movement  in  general  and  the  at- 
tempts to  crystallize  portions  of  it  into  permanent  or- 
ganizations. The  spread  of  the  movement  was  a  com- 
paratively spontaneous  matter,  but  with  the  attempts 


144        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

to  organize  there  arose  almost  insurmountable  diffi- 
culties because  the  position  of  the  Anabaptists  and 
early  Mennonites  on  the  various  questions  aroused  the 
opposition  of  both  the  Church  and  the  State  against 
them.  The  difficulties  were  especially  acute  because 
of  the  close  relationship  between  the  established 
Churches  and  the  State.  The  insistence  of  the  Ana- 
baptists on  Christ  as  the  supreme  authority  increased 
their  tendency  to  a  literal  interpretation  of  the  Bible 
and  finally  led  to  the  conclusion  which  Zwingli  had 
reached  earlier:  ''The  Church  must  reject  in  doctrine 
and  practice  everything  not  positively  enjoined  by 
Scripture,"  but,  as  Schafif  says,  "the  Zwinglian  re- 
formers aimed  to  reform  the  old  Church  by  the  Bible ; 
the  Anabaptists  attempted  to  build  a  new  Church 
from  the  Bible."  This  difference  of  emphasis  was 
anything  but  a  matter  of  the  use  of  different  preposi- 
tions in  those  days.  The  spiritually-minded  Anabap- 
tists were  very  much  in  earnest  and  when  they  finally 
left  the  following  of  the  reformers  it  meant  that  they 
had  done  so  after  deep  consideration  and  with  great 
determination.  The  more  they  saw  of  theological 
subtleties  and  of  affiliation  of  the  Church  with  the 
State  the  more  they  emphasized  the  need  of  with- 
drawing from  both  if  one  were  going  to  remain  a  fol- 
lower of  Jesus  Christ.  In  how  far  they  may  have 
been  as  fully  justified  in  every  case,  as  they  thot  they 
were,  is  of  less  concern  to  us  here  than  the  fact  that 


Conceptions  of  the  leaders     .    145 

ihey  acted  as  they  did  because  they  believed  so  strerni- 
ously  that  Christ  is  and  must  remain  the  supreme  au- 
thority of  the  Church.  They  beHeved  that  if  Christ 
had  founded  the  Church  it  was  He,  and  not  selfish 
men,  who  was  to  have  the  final  word  as  to  how  that 
Church  was  to  be  developed.  The  social,  ethical  and 
spiritual  conditions  all  pointed  out  the  presence  of 
deep-seated  mal-adjustments  and  the  unwillingness,  on 
the  part  of  those  in  power,  to  adjust  matters,  appeared 
so  impregnable  that  there  seemed  no  other  way  left 
for  those  who  insisted  so  strongly  upon  the  Rule  of 
Christ  but  to  form  a  new  organization,  just  as  Jesus 
had  done  when  the  Jewish  nation  faced  Him  in  a  simi- 
lar manner  and  spirit  fifteen  centuries  before. 

It  has  already  been  indicated  that  this  question  of 
organization  was  no  easy  one.  Not  only  did  the  oppo- 
sition from  without  afford  many  difficulties,  but  the 
work  was  also  much  hampered  by  the  very  fact  that 
the  movement  had  grown  so  large  before  any  organi- 
zation was  attempted.  This  was  the  difficulty  tc 
which  Luther  and  Zwingli  had  fallen  prey.  Such  a 
popular  movement  is  necessarily  unwieldy  and  full  of 
many  eddies  which  give  the  opposition  from  without 
many  opportunities  for  attack.  Under  such  conditions 
even  the  best  of  saints  find  out  that  they  are  still  in 
the  world  even  tho  they  may  no  longer  be  of  the  world. 
Under  such  conditions  men  either  relax  their  prin- 
ciples or  they  restate  them  with  new  emphasis.     The 


146        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

great  reformers  had  done  the  former,  the  Anabaptists 
did  the  latter. 

They  had  neither  the  power  nor  the  inclination  to 
control  the  world  thru  might,  but  they  did  set  about 
to  produce  within  the  world  a  Church  which  should  be 
characterized  by  the  principles  of  faith,  love  and  obe- 
dience towards  God,  and  of  mutual  love  and  service 
towards  one  another.  They  fully  believed  that  in  so 
doing  they  were  fulfilling  the  will  of  Christ  in  regard 
to  the  Church.  'Tn  proportion  as  the  religious  life 
feeds  itself  directly  upon  the  deeds  of  God  in  Christ 
and  upon  Christ's  character,  word  and  work,  as  the 
embodiment  and  manifestation  of  those  deeds,  it  be- 
comes aware  again  of  its  moral  ideals  and  becomes 
charged  afresh  with  the  faith  and  passion  for  their 
fulfillment."  (Dr.  MacKenzie,  Jesus  Christ,  Cyclop,  of 
Religion  and  Ethics,  p.  528.)  This  is  the  secret  which 
must  be  learned  before  we  can  fully  understand  the 
power  which  sustained  the  Anabaptists  in  the  face  of 
the  demonic  persecutions  which  thinned  their  ranks 
again  and  again  during  the  16th  century. 

It  is  true  that  in  their  ardour  to  make  the  times  of 
Jesus  and  the  Apostles  serve  as  a  model  for  the  new 
Church,  these  people  over-looked  the  fact  that  those 
times  could  not  be  called  back  and  that  even  if  they 
could  it  would  be  impossible  for  people  to  do  just  as 
Jesus  had,  but,  if  they  did  fail  in  this  direction  now 
and  then,  they  made  up  for  it  in  the  kind  of  lives  they 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  147 

succeeded  in  producing  and  in  the  spiritual  food  which 
they  succeeded  in  offering  to  the  masses  hungry  for 
such.  Mueller  says  in  his  "Die  Bernischen  Wieder- 
taufer"  that  Luther  complained  that  he  could  not 
find  the  people  for  an  ideal  Church.  The  Anabaptists 
found  them  and  it  is  not  to  the  credit  of  Luther  and 
his  followers  that  they  scorned  and  persecuted  the 
people  who  had  thus  banded  themselves  together  to 
lead  quiet  and  upright  lives.  They  did  not  claim  that 
they  had  already  attained  to  perfection,  but  they  made 
an  honest  effort  to  do  so.  That  is  what  made  their 
services  and  their  worship  so  attractive  to  the  masses 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  so  often  circumstances  had  to 
decide  where  and  how  these  services  might  be  held. 
They  were  often  held  under  the  dome  of  God's  clear 
sky,  in  the  woods,  in  caves  or  narrow  valleys,  on  the 
street  and  in  many  other  unusual  places.  These  very 
conditions  sometimes  seemed  to  lend  to  the  meetings 
a  beauty  and  a  warmth  which  the  meetings  of  Zwingli 
and  his  followers,  held  in  the  large  churches,  cleared  of 
all  their  Roman  Catholic  paraphernalia,  lacked.  Many 
of  the  people  who  were  not  adherents  of  the  move- 
ment felt  themselves  drawn  to  the  Anabaptist  meet- 
ings because  the  iconoclastic  proceedings  of  the 
Zwinglians  had  destroyed  for  them  the  sacredness  of 
the  old  churches.  Many  more  preferred  the  Anabap- 
tist meetings  because  of  the  wantonly  immoral  lives 
of  too  many  of  the  Protestant  preachers.     "Man  lief 


148        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

mit  Fleiss  und  Ernst  in  Holz  und  Feld  mit  grossen 
Scharen  zu  ihren  Predigten."  (Brons,  Ursprung,  Ent- 
wicklung  und  Schicksale  der  alt-evangelischen  Tauf- 
gesinnten,  p.  35.) 

For  a  while  the  Anabaptist  leaders  hoped  that  the 
leaders  of  the  established  churches  might  correct  the 
evils  existing  within  them,  but  when  they  saw  that 
there  was  no  use  in  hoping  for  this  they  set  about 
building  up  a  Church  which  was  to  be  free  from  these 
evils.  They  did  not  so  much  maintain  that  they  were 
the  Church  of  Christ  as  that  there  were  none  among 
them  who  were  not  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 

This  attitude  raised  several  very  important  ques- 
tions. The  first  of  these  was,  can  a  person  be  a  mem- 
ber of  an  organization,  called  a  Church,  when  he  gives 
no  evidence  of  being  a  conscientious  follower  of 
Christ?  This  question  struck  at  the  conduct  of  those 
who  were  considered  members  of  any  Church.  All 
of  the  established  Churches  made  members  of  people 
thru  the  rite  of  infant  baptism.  This  meant  that  those 
who  became  members  were  not  in  position  to  decide 
whether  they  would  become  followers  of  Christ  or  not 
and  it  also  made  it  difficult  to  dispose  of  them  in  case 
they  did  not  decide  to  become  His  followers  after  they 
were  in  position  to  decide  in  the  matter.  This  condi- 
tion of  afifairs  seemed  all  wrong  to  the  Anabaptists. 
They  believed  that  if  the  Church  was  to  be  the  body 
of  Christ  that  His  Headship  should  be  recognizable  in 


CONCEPTIONS   OF   THE   LEADERS  149 

the  way  the  body  conducted  itself.  Therefore  they 
concluded  that  no  one  should  become  a  member  of  the 
Church  except  by  his  own  decision.  This  meant  that 
he  should  not  be  baptized  until  he  had  for  himself  pro- 
fessed Christ.  If  the  established  Churches  had  been 
willing  to  turn  the  rite  of  infant  baptism  into  a  form 
of  consecration  the  Anabaptists  would  not  have  ob- 
jected, but  when  it  was  insisted  upon  as  a  means  of 
salvation  and  a  sign  of  membership  in  the  "Body  of 
Christ",  they  refused  to  recognize  it  as  valid.  This 
attitude  made  it  necessary  for  the  Anabaptists  to  give 
a  new  definition  for  church  membership.  They  were 
soon  ready  with  a  working  definition.  They  believed 
that  one  is  called  to  become  a  member  when  he  hears 
the  Gospel ;  that  he  is  to  purify  himself  for  the  sake 
of  Christ  who  is  the  Head  of  the  Church.  "All  they 
know  is  Christ  Jesus,  their  seeking  is  the  pure  Apos- 
tolic doctrine  and  the  pious,  unblamable  life  which  is 
from  God."  "Members  of  the  Church  are  to  behave 
themselves  in  all  things  consistent  with  Christianity ; 
they  are  to  fear  God  in  all  their  ways  and  to  praise 
Him  in  all  their  works."  "Christians  should  gird  them- 
selves with  the  weapons  of  righteousness,  declare 
God's  Word  with  freedom  and  neither  shrink  nor  give 
way."  "Whoever  boasts  that  he  is  a  Christian,  must 
walk  as  Christ  walked."  "Christians  must  make  up 
their  minds  to  both  teach  and  suffer,  expecting  that 
they  will  fare  no  better  than  the  prophets  of  old," 


ISO        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

"Those  who  know  the  Word  of  the  Lord  and  do  not 
live  according  to  it,  reject  the  cross  of  Christ."  "It  is 
in  vain  that  we  are  called  Christians,  that  Christ  died, 
that  we  were  born  in  a  day  of  grace  and  baptized  with 
water,  if  we  do  not  walk  according  to  His  law,  counsel 
and  admonition,  will  and  command  and  are  not  obe- 
dient to  His  Word."  "Men  must  walk  as  all  true 
children  of  God  are  commanded  by  His  Word."  I  John 
1 :6,  7. 

The  foregoing  quotations  suggest  what  confronted 
the  members  of  the  Anabaptist  movement  when  it  had 
once  become  more  definitely  organized.  The  growth 
of  the  movement  increased  the  difficulties  of  carrying 
out  these  ideals,  but  the  leaders  did  not  become  dis- 
couraged. They  continued  to  go  back  to  their  funda- 
mental conception  of  Christ's  Headship  of  the  Church 
and  decided  the  problems  on  that  basis.  From  the 
midst  of  the  turmoil,  caused  by  persecution  from  with- 
out and  by  misunderstanding  and  dissension  from 
within  we  continue  to  hear:  "The  almighty,  eternal 
Father,  through  His  eternal  wisdom,  Jesus  Christ  has 
instituted  and  commanded  all  things  in  His  kingdom, 
that  is,  in  His  Church,  relating  to  doctrines,  sacra- 
ments and  life,  according  to  His  divine  council,  will 
and  wisdom  .  .  .  Christ  alone  will  be  the  Head  of  the 
Church,  the  Teacher  in  His  school,  and  He  alone  the 
King  who  will  judge  His  kingdom,  not  with  the  doc- 
trines and  commands  of  men,  nor  with  slaying  and 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  151 

murdering,  but  with  His  Holy  Spirit,  power,  grace  and 
Word."  (Menno  Simon,  in  his  Supplication  to  the 
Magistracy.) 

Such  reminders  in  the  midst  of  the  confusion 
of  that  day  had  a  tendency  either  to  make  men  for- 
sake the  new  movement  or  to  fill  them  with  a  mar- 
tyr spirit.  The  latter  was  the  usual  result.  With  this 
there  came  an  ever-increasing  emphasis  upon  ethical 
thinking  and  acting.  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  and 
other  ethical  literature  of  the  New  Testament  was 
read,  committed  and  discussed  until  the  people  became 
thoroly  saturated  with  its  teachings.  Passages  like 
Mica  6:8  and  H  Cor.  5:15  were  frequently  used  as 
admonitions  and  reminders.  Men  became  as  serious 
about  their  responsibilities  in  connection  with  the 
building  up  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth  as  they 
had  been  about  the  forgiveness  of  their  sins.  "It  is 
clear  indeed  that  Jesus  views  the  establishment  of  the 
kingdom  as  an  act  of  grace,  a  miraculous  and  over- 
whelming revelation  of  God's  power  and  glory  most 
certain  and  most  real.  Yet,  He  also  sees  that  God's 
act  is  not  arbitrary,  undetermined  as  to  form  and  date 
by  anything  on  the  human  side,  a  predestined  event 
which  is  unrelated  to  man's  conduct.  On  the  contrary 
Jesus  views  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  as  conditioned 
by  human  historical  acts  and  events."  (Dr.  MacKen- 
zie,  Jesus  Christ,  Cycl.  of  Religion  and  Ethics,  p.  512.) 
If  the  foregoing  statement  is  true  then  these  people 


152        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

were  certainly  making  an  honest  effort  to  meet  the 
conditions  which  Christ  had  imposed.  They  had  not 
only  emphasized  the  question  of  what  Christ  has  done 
for  men  but  also  made  an  honest  effort  to  find  out  what 
He  could  and  would  do  in  men.  That  is  why  they 
emphasized  love  toward  all ;  self-possession  in  the  face 
of  injury  and  a  willingness  to  suffer  without  limit. 

In  their  stud}^  of  the  New  Testament  these  leaders 
came  to  realize  that  Jesus  had  early  abolished  all  de- 
pendence on  outward  ceremony  as  a  means  of  salva- 
tion. This  raised  the  second  important  question  of 
those  which  grew  out  of  the  attitude  of  the  Anabap- 
tists, namely:  What  is  the  value  of  "sacraments"  and 
"ceremonies"?  They  saw  that  all  of  the  other  Church- 
es placed  great  emphasis  upon  the  value  of  these,  but 
they  also  saw  that  these  did  not  agree  among  them- 
selves as  to  the  things  in  which  that  value  was  sup- 
posed to  consist.  In  fact,  they  saw  that  the  doctrines 
which  were  built  up  around  the  very  ideas  concerning 
these  supposed  values  were  causing  a  great  deal  of  un- 
christian discussion  and  conduct.  Men  were  supposed 
to  believe  doctrines  which  had  been  written  in  defense 
of  the  positions  of  various  leaders  instead  of  being 
urged  to  study  the  Bible  and  to  live  in  accordance  with 
the  spirit  in  which  it  was  written.  But  what  was  even 
worse  was  the  fact  that  men  whose  lives  were  grossly 
immoral  were  entrusted  with  these  "sacraments"  and 
"ceremonies"  which   were   supposed  to  be  of  special 


CONCEPTIONS   OF   THE   LEADERS  153 

value  for  the  salvation  of  men.  This  was  more  than 
the  Anabaptists  and  other  spiritually-minded  people 
could  stand.  Some  of  them  reacted  against  the  situa- 
tion so  powerfully  that  they  did  away  with  all  **cere- 
monies"  and  "sacraments",  considering  them  of  no 
value  at  all.  The  Anabaptists  did  not  go  so  far  but 
they  maintained  that  there  was  no  saving  value  in 
these  rites  and  ceremonies  of  themselves.  They  re- 
tained baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  former 
meant  for  them  a  confession  on  the  part  of  the  candi- 
date that  he  had  perceived  and  acknowledged  his  sins ; 
that  he  had  received  forgiveness  for  them  thru  his 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ  and  that  he  promised  to  lead  a 
consistent  life  as  a  follower  of  Jesus  Christ,  depending 
on  the  power  of  God  in  so  doing.  It  also  meant  that 
he  was  received  as  a  member  of  the  "Community"  of 
those  who  had  similarly  turned  from  the  world  and 
were  following  Jesus  Christ  as  their  Head. 

The  Lord's  Supper  meant  to  them  an  act  of  com- 
memoration of  the  sufferings  and  death  of  Jesus 
Christ ;  a  sign  of  communion  with  Christ  and  an  op- 
portunity of  closer  communion  of  the  believers  among 
themselves. 

As  is  always  the  case  in  times  of  deep  devotional 
Bible  study,  so  it  was  true  in  the  case  of  the  Ana- 
baptists ;  tliey  emphasized  the  meaning  of  the  symbol 
rather  than  the  symbol.  This  attitude  naturally  brot 
them  into  conflict  with  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 


154        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

from  the  start  and  with  Luther  and  Zwingli  and  their 
followers  long  before  the  movement  had  become  well 
organized.  The  conflict  was  long  and  often  bitter. 
There  were  expressions  on  both  sides  which  need  to 
be  read  with  the  conditions  and  the  times  kept  well  in 
mind.  The  writings  of  the  leaders  on  all  sides  (for 
there  were  more  than  two  sides  since  those  who  con- 
demned the  Anabaptists  did  not  agree  among  them- 
selves) contain  much  that  one  wishes  might  be 
stricken  from  the  pages  of  church  history  because  its 
only  contribution  seems  to  have  been  to  add  fuel  to  the 
flames  of  hatred.  But  back  of  all  this  one  can  find  that 
there  was  a  real  difference  of  view-point  which  made  it 
impossible  to  come  to  any  satisfactory  agreement.  To 
this  fundamental  difference  of  view-point  as  to  the 
purposes  of  the  Church,  the  ideas  concerning  *'cere- 
monies"  and  "sacraments"  naturally  became  subsidi- 
ary. The  Churches  which  strove  for  political  power 
wanted  these  rites  as  means  to  acquire  and  maintain 
the  kind  of  submission  and  loyalty  which  their  con- 
ception demanded  and  therefore  attached  to  them  a 
value  which  would  appeal  to  the  autocratically  ruled. 
On  the  other  hand,  those  who  saw  in  the  Church  a 
"Community"  of  those  who  composed  that  section  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  which  is  upon  earth,  looked  upon 
these  rites  with  a  view  to  their  spiritual  significance. 
The  longer  the  Anabaptists  viewed  the  practical  re- 
sults of  the   positions,   held   by  their  opponents,   the 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  155 

more  they  felt  inclined  to  increase  their  own  emphasis 
in  regard  to  the  matter  of  sacraments  and  ceremonies. 
This  fact  accounts  for  a  number  of  the  eccentricities 
which  were  found  in  the  later  Church,  especially  in 
places  where  the  persecution  had  done  its  worst  work. 
In  connection  with  the  discussions  concerning  the 
purposes  of  the  Church,  its  membership  and  its  ''cere- 
monies'* and  "sacraments",  a  third  important  question 
was  gradually  but  persistently  brot  into  the  fore- 
ground. This  referred  to  the  ministry  in  the  Church. 
The  common  people,  who  composed  the  larger  portion 
of  the  Anabaptist  movement,  had  long  had  reasons  to 
feel  uncomfortable  in  the  presence  of  the  learned.  Now 
the  question  arose  whether  a  man  should  be  allowed 
to  be  a  servant  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  because 
of  his  intellectual  qualifications  in  case  his  spiritual 
life  and  his  moral  conduct  stood  in  opposition  to  the 
principles  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  was  another  result  of 
the  study  of  the  Bible  by  the  common  people  but 
might  have  been  avoided  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
gross  immoralities  which  were  practiced  by  too  many 
of  the  clergy  in  all  of  the  established  Churches.  The 
Anabaptists,  not  succeeding  in  improving  conditions 
in  the  established  Churches,  proceeded  to  make  pro- 
visions against  a  repetition  of  such  gross  inconsisten- 
cies in  their  own  "Communities".  Even  such  men  as 
Melchior  Hoffmann  felt  the  responsibility  of  doing 
constructive  work  toward  the  establishment  of  a  more 


156        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

spiritually-minded  ministry.  He  says:  "God's  com- 
munity knows  no  head  but  Christ.  No  other  can  be 
endured,  for  it  is  a  brother  and  sisterhood.  The  teach- 
ers have  none  who  rule  them  spiritually  but  Christ. 
Teachers  and  ministers  are  not  lords.  The  pastors 
have  no  authority  except  to  preach  God's  Word  and 
punish  sins.  A  bishop  must  be  elected  out  of  his  com- 
munity. Where  a  pastor  has  thus  been  taken  and  the 
guidance  committed  to  him  and  his  deacon,  a  commu- 
nity should  help  to  provide  properly  for  those  who 
help  to  build  the  Lord's  house.  When  teachers  are 
thus  found,  there  is  no  fear  that  the  communities  will 
suffer  spiritual  hunger.  A  true  preacher  would  will- 
ingly see  the  whole  community  prophesy."  This  ex- 
pression shows  a  spirit  of  democracy  which  pervaded 
this  movement  and  also  an  emphasis  on  the  spiritual 
side  to  be  taken  into  consideration  in  connection  with 
the  ministry  of  the  Church.  This  was  perfectly  in 
accord  with  the  conception  that  the  Church  is  a  "spirit- 
ual priesthood".  Every  member  ought  so  to  live  that 
he  might  be  worthy  of  being  a  minister  even  tho  he 
should  never  be  called  to  a  church.  This  was  the  atti- 
tude which  seems  to  have  been  uppermost  in  the  m.ind"* 
of  the  Anabaptists.  If  they  said  of  their  membership, 
"lieber  kleiner  und  reiner,"  they  insisted  that  in  the 
case  of  the  ministers  there  should  be  none  of  the  im- 
purities found  in  the  Churches  upon  which  they  had 
felt  themselves  compelled  to  turn  their  backs.  Accord- 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE  LEADERS  157 

ing  to  one  of  the  oldest  confessions  of  faith  they  be- 
hev^ed  that  the  welfare  of  the  Church  demanded  the 
election  of  ministers,  in  order  that  the  work  of  the 
Church  might  be  performed  in  an  orderly  way.    Thev 
considered  Jesus  Christ  the  great  Bishop  (Oberhirte) 
and  believed  that  He  had  left  an  example  in  that  He 
sent  forth  men  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  others.     Fur- 
thermore, the  example  of  Paul  in  appointing  "some, 
apostles ;  and  some,  prophets ;  and  some,  evangelists  ; 
and  some,  pastors  and  teachers ;   for  the  perfecting  of 
the  saints,  unto  the  work  of  the  ministry,  unto  the 
building  up  of  the  body  of  Christ,"  was  taken  quite 
literally  by  them  with  special  emphasis  upon  the  pur- 
poses for  which  these  were  appointed  and  upon  the 
character  of  the  appointees.    This  gave  them  preach- 
ers of  great  power.     Sometimes  the  rules  of  conduct 
which  were  laid  down  for  them  became  very  severe, 
as  is  shown  by  the  large  number  of  even  prominent 
leaders  who  were  excommunicated.    (Cf.  e.  g.  the  long 
list  of  these  cited  in  Vos,  Menno  Simons,  pp.  256-7.) 
It  also  gave  calumny  an  undue  opportunity  at  times. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  it   reduced  the   opportunity 
considerably  to  say  of  the  Anabaptist  and  early  Men- 
nonite  preachers,  as  was  so  often  said  of  the  clergy  of 
the  established   Churches :   "Die   Pfafifen   treiben   des 
Vormittags  Gotzendienst  und  des  Nachmittags  Siind." 
(Brons,  Ursprung,  usw.,  p.  422.)     Menno  Simon  main- 
tained that  preachers  should  be  such  "who  are  moved 


158        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

by  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  are  pressed  by  love  to  God 
and  man,  and  urged  by  the  Lord  Himself,  or  by  His 
spotless  Christian  Church,  or  are  called  to  the  service 
of  the  Lord  by  an  unblamable,  truly  believing  Chris- 
tian Church  to  rightly  teach  in  the  house  of  God,  that 
is,  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  with  sound  doctrine  and 
with  a  pious  and  unblamable  conduct,  admonish,  re- 
prove, rebuke  and  comfort  them  in  paternal  love ;  to 
set  forth  and  administer  the  Lord's  Supper  in  a  right 
manner;  to  reply  diligently  with  God's  Word  all  de- 
luding and  false  teachers ;  to  exclude  all  evil  members 
from  the  communion  of  the  godly,  etc."  (Sending 
Preachers.) 

It  is  interesting  to  see  with  what  authority  some 
of  these  men  preached  or  addressed  themselves  to 
those  in  power.  It  reminds  one  of  I  Cor.  7:10:  "I  give 
you  charge,  yet  not  I,  but  the  Lord."  In  this  they 
much  resembled  the  early  apostles.  The  various  ap- 
peals of  some  of  these  leaders  to  the  clergy  of  the 
established  Churches  and  even  to  the  civil  authorities 
speak  of  a  courage  which  could  hardly  have  been  pos- 
sible without  the  conception  of  the  office  of  the  preach- 
er under  which  they  had  entered  their  work. 

The  application  of  these  high  ideals  and  strict 
standards  to  membership  in  the  "Communities"  and  to 
the  ministry  led  to  an  increased  use  of  the  "ban"  or 
excommunication.  They  believed  in  the  exercise  of 
Church  discipline  and  the  use  of  the  "ban"  for  those 


CONCEPTIONS   OF   THE   LEADERS  159 

who  had  joined  the  ''Community"  and  then  turned 
again  to  sin  wilfully  and  presumptuously  (vermessen). 
They  took  this  step  in  order  that  the  pure  might  be 
separated  from  the  impure  and  that  sinners  might  be 
brot  to  a  realization  of  their  position  and  to  repent- 
ance, as  well  as  serve  as  examples  to  those  who  might 
be  in  danger  of  committing  errors  or  of  falling  into 
sin.  They  also  felt  that  the  ''Community"  should  act 
in  such  a  case  before  the  "world"  had  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  condemning  the  sinner.  Their  conception 
of  the  Church  as  the  body  of  the  elect  made  such  a 
position  logically  necessary.  Their  idea  was  to  keep 
the  "Community"  free  from  "spot  or  wrinkle"  and 
they  used  the  "ban"  to  this  end.  It  seems  to  have 
worked  well  except  in  those  cases  where  it  was  exer- 
cised without  the  moderation  for  which  the  ablest 
leaders  stood.  Their  position  was  also  in  accord  with 
their  conception  in  regard  to  the  ethical  duties  of  the 
members.  The  "ban"  thus  became  a  pedagogical 
means  for  the  attainment  to  the  high  standard  of  the 
"Community",  as  they  conceived  of  it  from  their  study 
of  the  New  Testament.  Except  in  the  cases  of  mis- 
applied emphasis,  the  latter  reason  seems  to  have  been 
the  one  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  the  more  promi- 
nent leaders  and  its  use  was  productive  of  much  good. 
In  this  sense  the  "ban"  became  the  negative  re-itera- 
tion of  their  positive  teachings  regarding  a  consistent 
Christian  life.     The  conditions  of  that  day  and  espe- 


160        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

cially  the  lack  of  experience  on  the  part  of  so  large  a 
proportion  of  the  membership  made  it  necessary  to 
use  negative  as  well  as  positive  means  to  secure  the 
desired  end.  There  have  been  few  groups  in  human 
society  where  such  has  not  been  the  case.  The  "ban" 
came  to  have  great  disciplinary  value  and  frequently 
saved  the  "Communities"  from  the  effects  of  slander- 
ous reports,  for  the  authorities  soon  found  out  that  the 
"Communities"  which  used  this  means  of  discipline 
might  be  trusted  not  to  be  guilty  of  the  things  which 
were  often  found  with  others.  The  chief  difficulty  lay 
in  the  limitations  which  necessarily  accompanied  its 
use.  These  were  not  always  studied  with  the  breadth 
of  mind  which  makes  for  constructive  development 
and  sometimes  led  to  confusion,  dissension  and  even 
disruption.  The  tendency  to  take  the  Scriptures  too 
literally,  combined  with  the  spirit  of  democracy  among 
the  people  and  the  newness  of  the  entire  situation  made 
the  lack  of  experience  in  matters  of  organization  all  the 
more  likely  to  lead  to  such  errors  of  judgment  and  did 
much  to  bring  about  the  confusion  and  difficulties  that 
might  otherwise  have  been  avoided.  Such  passages 
as  I  Cor.  5:11  and  II  Thess.  3:14,  too  literally  inter- 
preted, became  the  source  of  trouble,  especially  when 
the  "shunning"  was  required  of  husband  and  wife. 

The  position  advocated  in  the  earlier  confessions 
and  striven  for  under  normal  conditions  was  that  the 
exercise  of  the  "ban"  should  be :   "Mit  solchem  Masse 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  161 

und  in  solcher  christlichen  Bescheidenheit,  dass  der- 
selbe  nicht  zur  Verderbung,  sondern  dem  Sunder  zur 
Besserung  moge  gereichen  und  dienen."  So  long  as 
this  principle  was  followed  the  results  were  good. 

The  position  of  the  Anabaptists  led  to  still  another 
problem  by  raising  the  question  as  to  the  attitude  of 
the  Christian  toward  the  civil  authority.  This  prob- 
lem became  all  the  more  intricate  because  of  the  fact 
that  they  stood  for  the  absolute  separation  of  Church 
and  State  at  a  time  when  the  leading  Churches  em- 
phasized the  union  of  Church  and  State.  The  ideals 
of  the  Anabaptists  were  thus  made  subject  to  the 
danger  of  being  interpreted  as  both  heresy  and  trea- 
son. Either  one  of  these  charges  was  bad  enough  in 
the  16th  century,  especially  if  it  was  directed  against 
any  group  of  people  who  had  little  physical  force  at 
their  command,  but  to  be  subject  to  both  at  the  same 
time  makes  one  wonder  that  there  were  any  traces  of 
the  movement  left  at  all. 

According  to  the  older  confessions  of  faith  the 
Anabaptists  believed  that  God  had  ordained  the  magis- 
tracy to  punish  the  bad,  protect  the  good  and  to  rule 
the  world  so  that  there  might  be  good  order  every- 
where. For  these  reasons  they  considered  it  necessary 
that  the  magistracy  should  be  obeyed  and  honored  as 
a  servant  of  God ;  that  all  taxes,  excises,  etc.,  should 
be  paid  ''according  to  the  teachings  of  the  Son  of  God". 
Matt.  22:21  and  17:27.    They  considered  such  an  atti- 


162        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

tude  necessary  in  order  that  men  might  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  good  government.  History  shows  that  they 
did  not  only  confess  these  things  but  that  they  also 
conscientiously  observed  them. 

A  literal  interpretation  of  the  words  of  Jesus  and 
a  reaction  from  the  abuses  all  about  them  made  them 
refuse  to  swear  oaths  and  to  go  to  war.  They  believed 
that  these  things  were  forbidden  by  God  and  that 
therefore  it  was  their  duty  to  obey  God  more  than 
men.  These  principles  may  have  been  too  ideal  for  the 
16th  century  (some  people  think  they  are  too  ideal  for 
today)  as  many  writers  would  have  us  think,  but  the 
logic  of  the  Anabaptists  was  of  a  different  type.  They 
believed  that  truthfulness  was  better  than  the  swear- 
ing of  oaths  and  therefore  they  spoke  the  truth  and 
refused  to  swear  the  oaths ;  they  believed  that  killing 
another  was  wrong  for  the  nation  as  well  as  for  the 
individual  and  therefore  they  refused  to  help  the  na- 
tion do  what  they  would  not  want  to  do  as  individuals. 
They  also  felt  that  if  a  thing  was  so  fundamentally 
right  that  it  would  be  necessary  before  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  then  it  was  right 
now  and  ought  to  be  acted  upon.  There  were  few 
cases  in  which  the  governments  had  any  reason  for 
complaint  against  the  members  of  this  movement  on 
any  other  account  than  these  two  points  and  even  in 
the  case  of  the  swearing  of  oaths  and  the  refusal  to  go 
to  war  the  rulers  had  more  occasion  to  wish  that  all 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  163 

of  their  subjects  might  be  of  this  mind  than  such  in 
which  they  found  their  Anabaptist  subjects  a  real 
detriment  to  their  government. 

This  problem  was  materially  affected  by  the  Miin- 
ster  outbreak.  Men  either  did  not  see  or  refused  to 
see  that  if  the  Miinsterites  had  adhered  to  the  princi- 
ples of  the  peaceful  Anabaptists,  the  Miinster  uprising 
would  have  been  an  impossibility.  This  unnecessarily 
confused  the  issue  to  the  detriment  of  the  government, 
as  well  as  of  the  Anabaptist  cause. 

The  spirit  of  jealousy  so  rife  between  the  various 
ruling  parties  of  that  day  naturally  bred  the  spirit  of 
revenge.  Here  again  the  Anabaptists  met  opposition, 
for  they  frankly  declared  that  no  man  had  a  right 
to  exercise  revenge.  This  struck  at  the  heart  of  the 
ambition  of  most  of  the  leaders,  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
of  the  day  and  resulted  in  an  unfriendly  attitude  on 
the  part  of  these  potentates  toward  those  whose  posi- 
tion was  a  reprimand  for  their  own.  It  was  simply 
another  case  of  vengeance  smiting  love. 

The  principle  of  the  Anabaptist  members  was  that 
they  must  seek  the  welfare  of  all  men ;  the  policy  of 
the  ambitious  authorities  was  to  seek  their  own  end 
and  to  crush  everyone  who  stood  in  the  way.  The  re- 
sult was  inevitable.  Might  became  right  and  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world  came  out  victorious.  Men  say  today 
that  the  Anabaptists  appeared  too  early  with  their 
ideals.     Men  told  them  that  in  their  day  and  they  re- 


164        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

plied  that  these  were  not  their  ideals  but  the  ideals  of 
Christ,  the  Head  of  the  Church,  and  that  He  had  pre- 
sented these  same  ideals  fifteen  centuries  before.  The 
answer  they  received  was  calumny  and  persecution 
to  the  point  of  near-extinction.  The  world  congratula- 
ted itself  on  having  gotten  rid  of  such  "heretics"  and 
even  prided  itself  on  its  success.  Today  we  are  reap- 
ing the  ripe  fruits  of  that  "success"  while  the  princi- 
ples for  which  the  Anabaptists  lived  and  died  are  again 
being  trailed  in  the  dust  of  human  greed ! 

The  Anabaptists  believed  that  it  is  better  to  suffer 
than  to  inflict  suffering ;  to  do  good  than  to  do  ill  and 
therefore  interpreted  the  Golden  Rule  and  Christ's 
epitome  of  the  law  very  literally.  This  brot  them  into 
conflict  with  the  civil  authorities  because  they  applied 
it  to  governments  as  well  as  individuals  and  it  brot 
them  into  conflict  with  the  ecclesiastical  authorities 
because  it  branded  the  latter  as  non-Christian  so  long 
as  they  did  not  recognize  Jesus  Christ  as  the  supreme 
Lord  in  life.  This  conflict  was  inevitable  so  long  as 
the  Anabaptists  adhered  to  their  principles  and  the 
authorities  in  question  to  their  policies.  It  was  a  case 
of  principle  and  not  of  personality.  Whether  the  Ana- 
baptists would  have  been  spared  their  fate  if  they  had 
succeeded  in  satisfying  the  magistrates  is  an  open 
question,  but  the  writer  ventures  to  suggest  that  their 
fate  would  have  been  little  different  for  without  the 
hatred  of  the  clergy  who  felt  conscience-stricken  and 


CONCEPTIONS   OF  THE   LEADERS  165 

condemned  by  the  principles  and  the  lives  of  these 
people,  the  magistracy  of  the  then  existing  govern- 
ments w^ould  probably  have  caused  the  Anabaptists 
little  trouble,  but  this  very  hatred  v^ould  have  found 
other  means  of  persuading  the  authorities  to  become 
their  tools  in  order  to  get  rid  of  these  supposed  ene- 
mies of  good  government. 

The  Anabaptists  saw  this  and  therefore  refused  to 
take  any  direct  part  in  the  official  duties  of  the  govern- 
ment. They  could  not  have  done  otherwise  and  re- 
mained consistent  with  their  conception  of  Christ  as 
the  Head  of  the  Church.  If  they  had  yielded  they 
would  have  become  a  party  to  a  combination  which 
made  the  arm  of  the  civil  authority  and  not  the  will 
of  the  Lord  the  mainstay  of  the  Church. 

The  writer  has  looked  at  a  number  of  summaries  of 
the  "reasons  why  the  Anabaptists  failed"  and  has  been 
impressed  with  the  fact  that  the  estimates  have  always 
been  based  on  the  fact  that  these  people  were  nearly 
exterminated.  He  is  glad  to  find,  however,  that  not 
every  one  estimates  thus  the  meaning  of  the  lives  and 
the  work  of  these  people  who  tried  so  literally  to  live 
out  the  fundamental  principles  of  Jesus  Christ.  What 
if  their  methods  seem  crude !  Were  they  any  more  so 
for  their  day  than  ours  are  for  today?  They  knew 
less  of  Christology  than  we  do,  but  did  the  actual 
application  of  what  they  believed  about  the  personal- 
ity of  Jesus  Christ  stand  lower  in  the  sight  of  God 


166        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

than  does  ours?  Their  statements  of  the  work  which 
Jesus  Christ  accomplished  for  mankind  sometimes 
grate  on  modern  ears  but  are  we  sure  that  their  state- 
ments did  less  honor  to  His  work  than  do  our  own? 
Their  conception  of  the  Church  seems  to  many  crude 
and  visionary,  but  are  the  modern  Churches  doing 
more  effective  work  in  the  kingdom  of  God  than  did 
the  simple  "Communities"  of  the  Anabaptists  and  ear- 
ly Mennonites  when  conditions  and  opportunities  are 
taken  into  consideration?  The  reaction  of  the  Ana- 
baptists against  the  "sacraments"  and  the  "ceremo- 
nies" of  the  established  Churches  of  their  day  may 
seem  extreme,  but  whom  shall  we  follow  in  this  mat- 
ter, them  or  their  adversaries,  when  the  practices  and 
not  the  theories  are  assigned  first  place?  Their  re- 
quirements for  membership  in  the  "Community"  may 
seem  too  ideal,  but  what  about  the  feeling  of  expe- 
rienced leaders  of  our  own  day  who  say  that  so  much 
"world"  has  gotten  into  the  Church  that  the  Church 
has  lost  its  grip  on  the  world?  Their  ideals  for  the 
ministry  may  have  lacked  much  that  is  thot  desirable 
for  one  to  possess  who  belongs  to  the  "profession", 
but  what  of  the  power  of  conviction  which  resulted 
from  the  practical  application  of  their  ideals?  And 
how  about  their  attitude  on  anti-militarism?  "Jesus 
believed  implicitly  in  the  triumph  of  meekness,  gentle- 
ness and  love.  He  knew  that  the  greatest  powers  on 
earth  were  not  swords  and  armies.     Despite  the  long 


CONCEPTIONS   OF   THE   LEADERS  167 

history  of  human  strife  and  blood-shed,  despite  the 
sad  story  of  man's  inhumanity  to  man,  Jesus  knew 
that  there  was  a  power  in  suffering  love  which  could 
conquer  even  human  malignity  and  that  the  forces  of 
evil  must  at  last  break  themselves  upon  His  divine  pa- 
tience. 'The  meek  shall  inherit  the  earth',  He  had 
dared  to  declare.  In  spite  of  the  seeming  dominion  of 
ambition  and  force  it  is,  after  all,  humility  and  patience 
which  really  subdue  the  hearts  of  men.  To  this  prin- 
ciple of  the  real  royalty  of  meekness  and  love  Jesus 
Christ  committed  Himself  absolutely  in  life  and  in 
death.  He  knew  that  the  kingdom  of  God,  founded 
not  on  might,  but  on  humility,  service  and  helpfulness, 
must  yet  give  the  law  to  all  kingdoms  and  that  this 
kingdom,  secure  as  the  throne  of  the  eternal  Love, 
would  endure  and  flourish  when  all  others  had  van- 
ished from  the  earth."  (Stevens,  The  Christian  Doc- 
trine of  Salvation,  p.  364).  Such  thots  as  these,  com- 
bined with  the  deep  conviction  that  a  Christian  must 
live  his  profession  and  the  intense  desire  to  be  con- 
sistent Christians  made  these  simple  Anabaptists 
stand  up  for  the  principle  of  anti-militarism  at  a  time 
when  such  an  attitude  was  considered  sheer  folly  be- 
cause men  were  depending  upon  the  force  of  their  own 
arms  instead  of  the  ''Arm  of  the  Lord",  as  they  pro- 
fessed. 

Were  these  Anabaptists  so  far  wrong  in  objecting 
to  the  union  of  Church  and  State?   Were  they  right  or 


168        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

wrong  in  their  insistence  that  it  is  better  to  pray  for 
the  government   than   to   help   the  government   prey 
upon  others?   Was  it  really  true  that  by  actually  tell- 
ing the  truth  and  refusing  to  swear  oaths  they  were 
made  worse  citizens  than  those  who  swore  the  oaths, 
all  too  often  in  order  to  cover  up  untruths?  Was  Hans 
Mueller  a  bad  citizen  when  he  stood  before  the  magis- 
trates of  Ziirich  and  pled:  "Do  not  lay  a  burden  on  my 
conscience,  for  faith  is  a  gift  given  freely  by  God  and 
is  not  common  property.     The  mystery  of  God  lies 
hidden  like  the  treasure  in  a  field,  which  no  one  can 
find  but  he  to  whom  the  Spirit  shows  it.    So  I  beg  you, 
ye  servants  of  God,  let  my  faith  stand  free"?  Was  the 
only  provision  which  these  men  made  in  their  obe- 
dience, to  temporal  governments  (we  must  obey  God 
more  than  men)  a  sign  of  treason?  If  so,  then  freedom 
of  conscience  is  treason.    Then  also  Christ  is  not  the 
Head  of  the  Church  on  earth.     H  Christ  is  the  Head 
of  the   Church,  as  these   people   believed   absolutely, 
then  their  sad  history  is  another  case  of: 
"Right  forever  on  the  scaffold. 
Wrong  forever  on  the  throne. 
Yet,  that  scaffold  sways  the  future 
And  behind  the  dim  unknown 
Standeth  God  within  the  shadow 
Keeping  watch  above  His  own." — Lowell. 


APPENDIX  I 

"DIE    SIEBEN    ARTIKEL   VON    SCHLATTEN    AM 

RANDEN" 

Vereinbart  den  24.   Februar   1527.    Aeltestes   Bekenntnis  der 
Taufer.     (Gekiirzt  durch  Dr.  Beck). 

Zum  ersten:  So  merket  von  der  Taufe:  Die  Taufe  soil 
alien  denen  gegeben  werden,  die  belehret  sind  von  der  Busse 
und  Aenderiing  des  Lebens  und  glauben  in  der  Wahrheit, 
dass  ihre  Siinden  durch  Christum  hinweggenommen  seien. 
und  alien  denen,  so  in  der  Auferstehung  Jesu  Christi  wan- 
deln  und  mit  ihm  in  den  Tod  begraben  sein  wollen,  auf  dass 
sie  mit  ihm  auferstehen  mogen,  und  alien  denen,  so  es  in  sol- 
cher  Meinung  durch. sich  selbst  von  uns  begehren  und  for- 
dern.  Damit  w^ird  ausgeschlossen  alle  Kindertaufe,  solche 
hat  nicht  Grund  und  Z^ugnis  in  der  Schrift  und  ist  gegen  den 
Gebrauch  der  Apostel — dessen  wollen  wir  uns  einfaltiglich, 
doch  festiglich,  halten  und  versichert  sein. 

Zum  andern  sind  wir  vereinigt  worden  von  dem  Bann 
also:  Der  Bann  soil  gebraucht  werden  bei  alien  denen,  so 
sich  dem  Herrn  ergeben  und  sich  Briider  und  Schwestern 
lassen  nennen  und  doch  etwa  straucheln  (umschlipfen)  und 
fallen  in  ein  Fehl  und  Siind  und  unwissentlich  iibereilt  wer- 
den. Dieselben  sollen  ermahnt  werden,  zum  andernmal 
heimlich,  zum  drittenmal  offentlich  vor  aller  Gemeine  ge- 
straft  oder  gebannt  werden,  nach  dem  Befehl  Christi.  Matth. 
18.  Solches  soil  aber  geschehen  nach  der  Ordnung  des  Gei- 
stes  Gottes  vor  dem  Brotbrechen.  damit  wir  einmiitiglich  und 
in  einer  Liebe  von  einem  Brot  brechen  und  essen  mogen  und 
von  einem  Kelch  trinken. 

Zum  dritten:  In  dem  Brotbrechen  sind  wir  eins  gewor- 
den  und  haben  vereinbart,  alle  die  ein  Brot  brechen  wollen 
zum  Gedachtnis  des  (ge)brochenen  Leibes  Christi,  und  alle 
die  von   einem   Trank  trinken  wollen,  zu  einem   Gedachtnis 


170        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

ties  vergossenen  Blutes  Christi,  die  sollen  vorher  vereinigt 
sein  in  einem  Leibe  Christi,  das  ist  in  die  Gemeine  Gottes, 
auf  welchem  Christus  das  Haupt  ist,  namlich  diirch  die  Taufe. 
Denn,  wie  Pauliis  anzeigt,  so  mogen  wir  nicht  auf  einmal 
teilhaftig  (sein)  des  Herrn  Tisch  und  des  Teufels  Tisch; 
mogen  auch  nicht  auf  einmal  teilhaftig  sein  und  trinken  von 
des  Herrn  Kelch  und  des  Teufels  Kelch,  das  ist:  alle,  die 
Gemeinschaft  haben  mit  den  todten  Werken  der  Finsternis, 
die  haben  kein  Teil  am  Licht.  Also  auch,  welcher  nicht  die 
Berufung  eines  Gottes  zu  einer  Tauf,  zu  einem  Geist,  zu  ei- 
nem Glauben,  zu  einem  Leib  mit  alien  Kindern  Gottes  ge- 
mein  hat,  der  mag  auch  nicht  mit  in  ein  Brot  werden,  wie 
denn  sein  muss,  wo  man  das  Brot  in  der  Wahrheit  nach  dem 
Befehl  Christi  brechen  will. 

Zum  vierten:  Sind  wir  vereinigt  worden,  von  der  Abson- 
derung  von  dem  Bosen  und  vom  Argen,  das  der  Teufel  in 
der  Welt  gepflanzt  hat,  also  dass  wir  nicht  Gemeinschaft 
mit  ihnen  haben,  und  mit  ihnen  (nicht)  laufen  in  die  Menge 
ihrer  Greuel. — Nun  ist  uns  auch  das  Gebot  des  Herrn  offen- 
bar,  in  welchem  er  uns  heisst  abgesondert  sein,  wollen  wir 
seine  Sohne  und  Tochter  sein;  weiter  ermahnt  er  uns  darum, 
von  Babylon  und  dem  irdischen  Egypten  abzugehen,  dass 
wir  nicht  teilhaftig  werden  ihrer  Qual  und  Leiden,  so  der 
Herr  iiber  sie  fiihren  wird.  Die  Greuel,  welche  wir  meiden 
sollen — damit  sind  gemeint  alle  pabstlichen  und  widerpabst- 
lichen  Werke  und  Gbttesdienste,  Versammlungen,  Kirchgang 
und  Hauser,  Biirgerschaften  und  Verpflichtungen  des  Un- 
glaubens  und  andere  mehr  dergleichen,  die  dann  die  Welt 
fiir  hoch  halt — von  diesem  alien  sollen  wir  abgesondert  wer- 
den, und  kein  Teil  mit  solchem  haben,  denn  es  sind  eitel 
Greuel,  die  uns  verhasst  machen  vor  unserem  Christo  Jesu, 
welcher  uns  entledigt  hat  von  der  Dienstbarkeit  des  Flei- 
sches. 

Zum  fiinften  sind  wir  von  wegen  der  Hirten  in  der  Ge- 
meine Gottes  also  vereinigt  worden:  Der  Hirt  in  der  Ge- 
meine Gottes  soil  einer  sein  nach  der  Ordnung  Pauli  ganz 
und  gar,  der  ein  gutes  Zeugnis  habe  vor  denen,  die  ausser 
dem  Glauben  sind.     Solches  Amt  soil  sein:    Lesen,  Vermah- 


APPENDIX  171 

nen  und  Lehren,  Strafen,  Bannen  in  der  G-emeine,  und  alien 
Briidern  und  Schwestern  zur  B^sserung  vorbeten,  das  Brot 
anheben  zu  brechen,  und  in  alien  Dingen  des  Leibes  Christi 
Acht  haben,  dass  er  gebaut  und  gebessert  werde,  und  dem 
Lasterer  der  Mund  verstopfet  werde — dieser  aber  soil  erhalten 
werden,  wo  er  Mangel  haben  wird,  von  der  Gemeine,  welche 
ihn  erwahlet  hat,  damit,  welcher  dem  Evangelio  dienet,  von 
demselben  auch  lebe,  wie  der  Herr  verordnet  hat;  so  aber  ein 
Hirt  etwas  handeln  wiirde,  das  zu  strafen  ware,  soil  mit  ihm 
nichts  gehandelt  werden,  ohne  zwei  bis  drei  Zeugen,  und  so 
sie  siindigen,  sollen  sie  vor  alien  gestraft  werden,  damit  die 
andern  Furcht  haben.  So  aber  dieser  Hirt  vertrieben,  oder 
durch  das  Kreuz  dem  Herrn  hingefiihrt  wird,  soil  von  Stund 
an  ein  anderer  an  die  Statt  verordnet  werden,  damit  das  Volk- 
lein  und  das  Hauflein  Gottes  nicht  zerstort  werde. 

Zum  sechsten  sind  wir  vereinigt  worden  von  dem 
Schwert  also:  Das  Schwert  ist  eine  Gottes-Ordnung  ausser- 
halb  der  Vollkommenheit  Christi,  welches  den  Bosen  straft 
und  todtet,  und  den  Guten  schiitzet  und  schirmt. — Dasselbige 
zu  gebrauchen  sind  die  weltlichen  Obrigkeiten  geordnet. — In 
der  Vollkommenheit  Christi  aber  wird  der  Bann  alleine  ge- 
braucht,  zu  einer  Mahnung  und  Ausschliessung  des,  der  ge- 
siindigt  hat  im  Tod  des  Fleisches.  Nun  wir  von  vielen,  die 
nicht  den  Willen  Christi  gegen  uns  erkennen,  gefragt,  ob 
auch  ein  Christ  um  des  Guten  Schutz  und  Schirm  oder  um 
der  Liebe  willen  moge  oder  solle  das  Schwert  brauchen  gegen 
den  Bosen.  Die  Antwort  ist  offenbar,  einmiitiglich  also: 
Christus  lehrt,  dass  wir  von  ihm  lernen  sollen,  denn  er  sei 
mild  und  von  Herzen  demiitiglich  und  so  werden  wir  in  Ruhe 
finden  unsere  Seelen.  (Hinweisung  auf  Christo  und  die  Ehe- 
brecherin.)  Zum  andern  wird  gefragt  des  Schwertes  halber, 
ob  ein  Christ  soil  Urteil  sprechen  in  weltlichem  Zank  und 
Spann,  so  die  Unglaubigen  miteinander  haben,  ist  das  die 
einige  Antwort:  Christus  hat  nicht  des  Erbteils  halben  zwi- 
schen  Bruder  und  Bruder  entscheiden  wollen,  sondern  hat  sich 
stets  desselben  gewidert  (geweigert) ;  also  sollen  wir  auch 
tun.  Zum  dritten  wird  des  Schwertes  halben  gefragt:  Soil 
das  eine   Obrigkeit   sein,   so  einer  dazu  erwahlt  wird?    Dem 


172        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

wird  also  geantwortet:  Christus  hat  zu  einem  Konig  gemacht 
werden  sollen,  und  er  ist  geflohen  und  hat  nicht  angesehen 
die  Ordnung  seines  Vaters,  also  sollen  wir  auch  tun,  so  werden 
wir  nicht  in  der  Finsternis  wandeln.  Auch  verbietet  er  selbst 
die  Gewalt  des  Schwerts.  Also  sagt  weiter  Paulus:  Welche 
Gott  versehen  hat,  die  hat  er  auch  verordnet,  dass  sie  gleich- 
biirtig  sein  sollen  dem  Ebenbilde  seines  Sohnes. — Zuletzt 
wird  es  gemerkt,  dass  es  den  Christen  nicht  ziemen  mag,  eine 
Obrigkeit  zu  sein,  (denn)  der  Oberen  Regiment  ist  nach  dem 
Fleisch,  der  Christen  nach  dem  Geist  —  ihre  Streit-  und 
Kriegswaffen  sind  fleischlich — der  Christen  Waffen  aber  sind 
geistlich  wider  die  Befestung  des  Teufels;  die  Weltlichen 
werden  gewappnet  mit  Stachel  und  Eisen,  die  Christlichen 
mit  dem  Harnisch  Gottes,  mit  Wahrheit,  mit  Gerechtigkeit, 
Friede,   Glauben,   Heil,   in   Summa:    mit   dem  Worte   Gottes. 

Zum  siebenten  sind  wir  von  dem  Eid  also  eins  geworden: 
Der  Eid  ist  eine  Befestigung  unter  denen,  die  da  zanken  oder 
verheissen,  und  ist  im  Gesetz  geheissen  worden,  dass  er  soil 
geschehen  bei  dem  Namen  Gottes,  allein  wahrhaftig  und  nicht 
falsch.  Christus,  der  die  Vollkommenheit  des  Gesetzes  leh- 
ret,  verbietet  den  Seinen  alles  Schworen,  weder  recht  noch 
falsch,  weder  beim  Himmel,  noch  bei  dem  Erdreich,  noch  bei 
Jerusalem,  noch  bei  unserm  Haupt,  und  das  um  der  Ursache 
willen,  wie  er  bald  nachher  (Matth.  5)  spricht.  Sehet,  darum 
ist  alles  Schworen  verboten. 

Liebe  Briider  und  Schwestern,  das  sind  die  Artikel,  die 
etliche  Briider  bisher  irrig  und  nicht  gleich  verstanden  haben 
und  (sind)  damit  viel  schwache  Gewissen  verwirrt,  darnach 
der  Name  Gottes  gar  grasslich  verlastert  worden  ist,  darnach 
es  denn  notig  gewesen  ist,  dass  wir  im  Herrn  vereinigt  wor- 
den sind.  Gott  sei  Lob  und  Preis.  (Copy  found  in  Kurz- 
gefasste  Geschichte  und  Glaubenslehre  der  Altevangelischen 
Taufgesinnten  oder  Mennoniten,  pp.  166-9,  Carl  H.  A.  van 
der  Smissen.) 


APPENDIX  173 


APPENDIX  II 

Wiedertaufer  Artikl  vom  Jahr  1527,  zusammengstellt 
nach  den  Bekenntnissen  der  1527 — 1528  in  der  Stadt  Steyer 
verhorten  Wiedertaufer  aus  der  Bruderschaft  des  Hans  Hut. 
1527.  W.  Taufer  in  Stadt  Steier  und  Freynstadt. 

Artigkl  der  gemainen  urgichten  vnnd  bekhanntnussen 
aller  widergtaufften  so  befragt  worden: 

Der  Tauff,  so  die  Jungen  khinder  Emphahen,  sey  nis 
nutz,  auch  khain  Sacrament. 

Nach  der  Ordnung  Christi  soil  ainem  zuvoran  das  wort 
gotts  verkundt  vnd  gepredigt  werden,  vnd  so  er  dann  dasselb 
geglaubt,  soil  Er  darnach  getaufft  werden. 

Im  selben  Taufif  erwillig  ain  yeder  in  Ir  Briiderschafft. 
Dieselbig  Ir  Briiderschafft  sey  die  cristenlich  gemaindt  oder 
die  gemaindt  gottes,  vnd  die  andern  ausserhalb  Irer  Briider- 
schafft seyen  die  gottlossen. 

Die  bemelten  Ire  Gemainden  Erwellen  aus  Inen  ettlich, 
die  predigen,  ander  Briider  unnd  Schwester  aufnehmen  und 
Tauffen  sollen. 

Wann  sy  Tauffen,  sogen  sy:  Ich  tauf  dich  im  Namen  des 
Vatters,  Sons  vnd  heyligen  geists  vnnd  bezeichnen  den,  der 
sich  Tauffen  last,  mit  wasser  an  der  Styrn. 

Khainer  soil  eigens  haben,  sender  der  alle  Ding  Inen 
gemain   sein. 

Ir  widertauff  sey  khain  Sacrament,  sonder  ain  zeichen, 
dardurch  Sy  sich  got  Ergeben  vnd  Ir  gemuret  geb.  Khunsst 
vnnd  der  Gemaind  gottes  (sic). 

Inen  sey  verpoten,  in  die  kirchen  zu  geen,  Mess,  predig 
oder  anndere  ampter  dar  Inn  ze  heren. 

Auf  pildnissen  sey  nichts  zu  halten. 

Die  Todten  heiligen  mugen  nit  furpitter  sein,  noch  vnns 
Erschiessen  bey  got.  Die  lebendigen  Heiligen  seyen  die 
Briidern  vnnd  Schwestern  Iner  Briid-erschafft  vnnd  christenli- 


174        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

chend  Gemaind,  die  sollen  und  mugen  wor  fiir  ainander  pit- 
ten  vnnd  gnad  erwerben. 

Die  peucht  der  Briester  in  der  kirchen  sey  nichts,  aber 
ain  yeder  mag  dem  anndern  sein  sindt  peuchten  vnnd  antzei- 
gen,  damit  Er  gott  fiir  In  bitt. 

Christus  sey  mit  seinem  Leyb  nit  im  Sacrament  des 
Altars,  sender  im  Himel  vnnd  kommbt  nit  herab  bis  an  den 
Jiingsten  Tag. 

Christus  hat  im  Nachtmal  seinen  Jiingern  allein  prot 
vnnd  wein  zu  essen  vnnd  Trinkhen  gegeben  vnnd  nit  sein 
Leib.  Zu  Gedachtnis  desselben  halten  Sy,  so  offt  Sy  aus  ainer 
versammlung  voneinander  geen,  auch  dasselbig  nachtmal, 
vnnd  nyessen  ain  prot  und  wein,  wo  Sy  es  haben. — Das  Sacra- 
ment sey  auch  allain  prot  vnnd  wein  vnnd  weder  plut  noch 
Fleisch  noch  der  Leib  Christi. 

Sy  halten  auch   nichts  von   den   Siben   Sacramenten. 

Der  Jiingst  tag  sey  nachendt,  assdann  werden  Sy  mit 
Christo  Regiern  auf  erden. 

Vnnd  nyemand  mag  saelig  werden,  dann  durch  leyden,  das 
sey  die  Recht  Tauf  des  pliits,  darein  Sy  sich  durch  den  Tauf 
des  wassers  verwilligen. 

"Die  obgeschrieben  Artigkl  Glauben  vnnd  bekhennen  Sy 
allgemainicklich,  doch  mit  aennderung  etlicher  wortt,  die  doch 
kain  andern  sondern  verstandt  bringen,"  (So  meint  Khuenigl, 
von  dem  die  obige  Zusammenstelling  offenbar  herriihrt). 

(For  further  quotation  from  the  original  cf.  Loserth,  Dr. 
Balthasar  Hubmaier,  pp.  208-10.) 


APPENDIX  III 

PESECUTIONS  AND  THE  PESECUTED 

Estimates  by  Various  Writers. 
"But    the    persecution,    with    its    peculiar    atrocities,    had 
been  acting  in  its  usual  way  on  the  Anabaptists  of  the  Nether- 
lands.    They  had  been  tortured  on   the   rack,   scourged,  im- 
prisoned in  dungeons,  roasted  to  death  before  slow  fires,  and 


APPENDIX  175 

had  seen  their  women  drowned,  buried  alive,  pressed  into 
coffins  too  small  for  their  bodies  till  their  ribs  were  broken, 
others  stamped  into  them  by  the  feet  of  the  executioners.  Is 
it  to  be  wondered  at  that  those  who  stood  firm  sometimes 
gave  way  to  hysterical  excesses;  that  their  leaders  began  to 
preach  another  creed  than  that  of  passive  resistance;  that 
the  wild  apocalyptic  visions  were  reported  and  believed?" 
(Lindsay,  A  History  of  the  Reformation, — The  Reformation 
in  Lands  bej^ond  Germany,  p.  237.) 

"Die  Reformation  war  nur  zu  derjenigen  Glaubens-  und 
Gewissensfreiheit  gelangt,  die  man  fiir  sich  fordert,  aber  noch 
nicht  zu  derjenigen,  die  man  andern  gewahrt.  Der  Drang 
der  reformatorischen  Arbeit  erlaubte  es  nicht,  den  Kirchen- 
begrifT  gehorig  zu  entwickeln.  Mit  dem  damaligen  Kirchen- 
begrifl  war  seit  dem  zwolften  Jahrhundert  die  Theorie  ver- 
bunden,  dass  die  Abweichung  von  der  Kirchenlehre  der  per- 
sonlichen  Sitnde  zuzuschreiben  sei.  An  diesem  von  Thomas 
von  Aquino  wissensch^ftlich  begriindeten  Lehrsatz  haben  die 
Protestanten  noch  lange  nicht  geriittelt,  wiewohl  sie  selbst 
die  Opfer  dieser  Theorie  war^n.  Sie  haben  ihn  ofTenbar 
vorderhand  als  notiges  Uebel  beibehalten,  um  ihn  abzuschaf- 
fen  sobald  sie  selbst  ihn  nicht  mehr  notig  hatten."  (Mueller, 
Geschichte  der  Bernischen  Wiedertaufer,  p.  14.) 

"Zurkinden  1506-88;  1532,  Verwalter  der  Teutschoidens- 
compturei  in  Summiswald,  1534  Bernischer  Stadtschreiber, 
1537  Landvogt  in  Bonmont  im  Pays  de  Gex  und  1544-47  in 
Nyon.  Aus  seinen  Briefen  an  Calvin  teilt  sein  Biograph  Dr. 
A.  von  Gonzenbach  im  Berner  Taschenbuch,  1877,  Abschnitte 
mit.  (Cf.  Mueller,  Geschichte  der  Bernischen  Wiedertaufer, 
pp.  76fif.) 

Zurkinden  holds  that  perfect  agreement  in  doctrine  is 
not  to  be  expected  and  that  mercy  is  of  greater  importance 
anyway.  "Darf  ich  es  Ihnen  eingestehen,  ehrwiirdiger  Bru- 
der,  dass  ich,  sei  es  aus  Mangel  an  Einsicht,  sei  es  aus 
Aengstlichkeit,  zu  der  Zalil  derjenigen  gehore,  die  da  wiin- 
schen.  dass  das  Schwert  immer  seltener  gebraucht  werde,  um 
bewusste  oder  unbewusste  Irrlehren,  die  dem  christlichen 
Glauben  widerstreiten,  zu  unterdriicken  .  .  .  Ich  ziehe  es  vor, 


176        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCli 

die  Regierung  durch  iibertriebene  Milde,  als  durch  iibertriebe- 
ne  Strenge  fehlen  zu  sehen."  As  one  of  the  reasons  for  this 
position  he  tells  of  the  burning  of  an  eighty-year-old  woman 
and  her  daughter,  the  mother  of  six  fatherless  children,  who 
were  tortured  to  death  because  of  baptism. 

"Der  Mensch  ist  nun  einmal  so  geartet,  dass  er  der 
Ueberzeugung  lieber  nachgibt  als  der  Gewalt;  mancher  ist 
dem  Henker  gegeniiber  verstockt,  der  sanften  Zureden  nicht 
widerstanden  hatte  .  .  Ein  letztes  Argument,  das  ich  anfiihren 
muss,  besteht  darin,  dass  wir  den  Papisten,  deren  Grausam- 
keit  wir  mit  Recht  gebrandmarkt  haben,  durch  nichts  ange- 
nehmer  sein  konnen,  als  wenn  wir  ihr  Beispiel  nachahmen, 
und  auch  in  nnserer  Kirche  den  Henker  mit  seinen  Tortur- 
werkzeugen  wieder  einfiihren.  Nichts  ware  gehassiger! — Ich 
wage  es  kaum,  Ihnen  ganz  privatim  davon  zu  sprechen,  weil 
ich  keinen  meiner  Gedanken  verbergen  mag."  (Ausfiihrli- 
ches  bei  Dr.  Oechsli,  Quellenbuch  zur  Schweizergeschichte, 
S.  347.) 

Even  Kessler  had  to  admit  that  the  Anabaptists  in  "their 
walk  and  conversation  are  throughout  pious,  holy  and  blame- 
less .  .  .  They  carry  no  weapons,  neither  sword  nor  dagger .  . . 
They  swear  not,  nay,  not  even  take  they  the  civic  oath  to 
any  authority  .  .  .  They  purge  their  members  daily,"  etc. 
(Cf.  Bax,  The  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Anabaptists,  p.  56.) 

"Wiewohl  ich  kein  Wiedertaufer  bin,"  schrieb  Schwenk- 
feld  am  24.  September  1531  an  Bader,  "auch  auf  ihre  Weise 
nie  getauft  worden  bin,  kann  ich  doch  aus  Eurem  Schreiben 
spiiren,  dass  ich  bei  Euch  nicht  ohne  Verdacht  bin.  Sollen 
aber  alle  die  Wiedertaufer  sein,  die  von  der  Kindertaufe 
nichts  halten,  so  sind  jetzt  iiberall  viele  Wiedertaufer  und 
werden  mit  der  Zeit  mehr  werden,  als  ihrer  zuvor  gewesen. 
Dass  man  mir  aber  etliche  irrige  Artikel  der  Wiedertaufer 
wollte  zumessen  .  .  .  das  wiirde  ich  zur  Errettung  meines 
christlichen  Namens,  sofern  es  dem  Herrn  gefallig,  nicht  un- 
verantwortet  lassen;  denn  Gott  hat  mir  einen  Glauben  gege- 
ben,  der  sich  wohl  am  Licht  lasst  ansehen.  Die  Wieder- 
taufer sind  mir  deshalb  desto  lieber,  dass  sie  sich  um  gott- 
liche  Wahrheit  etwas  mehr  denn  um  viele  Gelehrten  bekiim- 


APPENDIX  177 

mern.  Wer  Gott  sucht  im  Ernst,  der  wird  ihn  finden.  Dass 
Ihr  sie  blinde  Wiedertaufer  und  des  Teufels  Martyrer  nennt, 
werdet  Ihr  vor  Gott  verantworten,  Mir  hat  einer  die  Ant- 
wort  darauf  gegeben:  Wo  sie  vor  Eiich  und  Euresgleichen 
neuen  Pabstlern  und  Schrifttyrannen  offentlich  mochten 
Platz  haben  und  sicher  waren,  so  diirften  sie  nicht  in  die 
Winkel  kriechen.  Sie  wiissten  auch  niemand,  der  sie  mar- 
terte,  denn  der  Teufel  mit  seinen  Gliedern  und  Haufen  .  .  . 
Wie  dem  allem  auch  sei,  mein  Bruder  Bader,  so  will  ich  Euch 
noch  zuletzt  treulich  ermahnt  haben,  Ihr  wollet  von  solchem 
schweren  gefahrlichen  Eifer,  den  Ihr  wider  diese  armen 
Leute  habt,  bei  Zeiten  abstehen  .  .  .  Ihr  miisst  dariiber  vor 
Gott  eine  ernste  Busse  tun,  dass  Ihr  sie  ausgeputzt  als  Gru- 
benhaurer,  Friedenbrecher  und  die,  die  Gottheit  Christi  ver- 
leugnen,  hingestellt,  etc.  Item  Ihr  vergleicht  sie  den  aller- 
ungehorsamsten  Leuten,  die  das  Erdreich  je  getragen  hat, 
die  also  billig  vor  der  ganzen  Welt  durchachtet,  verjagt,  ge- 
totet,  erhangt  und  ertrankt  wiirden;  denn  es  ware  unmoglich 
nach  natiirlicher  Ehrbarkeit,  dass  das  Erdreich  einen  solchen 
abgottischen  Orden  leiden  mochte  usw. — Das  habe  ich  Euch 
miissen  erinnern,  ob  Euch  solches  dermaleinst  in  Euer  Herz 
schliige,  Gott  um  Vergebung  und  Gnade  anzurufen;  denn 
heisst  das  nicht  das  Schwert  gewetzt?  .  .  .  Von  den  Taufern 
habe  ich  darum  umso  freier  geredet,  weil  sie  auch  wider  mich 
ein  Biichlein  haben  ausgehen  lassen,  deshalb  ich  jetzt,  wo 
man's  glauben  will,  unparteiisch  hierin  befunden  wiirde." 
(Cf.  Hege,  Die  Taufer  in  der  Kurpfalz,  pp.  18-19;  also  Cor- 
pus Schwenkfeldianorom,  Part  IV,  pp.  240  and  257.)  (Hege 
took  his  quotations  from  Schwenkfeld's  Epistolar,  2.  Buch 
des  2.  Teils  den  21.  Sendbrief,  p.  296 — r315.) 


APPENDIX  IV 

"Articul  III.  Von  der  Wieder-auffrichtung  und  Ver- 
siihnung  des  Menschlichen  Geschlechts  mit  Gott. 

"Was  die  Wieder-auffrichtung  des  ersten  Menschen  und 
seiner  Nachkommen  betrifft  /   davon  bekennen   und  glauben 


178        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

wir  /  dass  unangesehen  diesen  ihren  Fall  /  iibertretung  und 
Siinde  /  und  ob  wollen  ihnen  gantzlich  kein  vermiigen  war  / 
Gott  dennoch  darumb  sie  nicht  gantz  und  gar  hat  wollen  ver- 
werffen  /  noch  ewig  verlohren  bleiben  lassen  /  sondern  dass 
er  sie  wiederumb  su  sich  gerufifen  /  getrostet  und  gezeiget 
hat  /  dass  den  ihm  noch  Mittel  ilirer  versiinung  ware  /  nem- 
lich  das  unbefleckte  Lamb  (oder  Sohn)  Gottes  /  welcher  dazu 
albereits  vor  der  Welt  Anfang  versehen  /  und  ihnen  /  als  sie 
noch  im  Paradeys  waren  /  zu  Trost  /  Erlosung  und  Seligkeit/ 
so  wol  fiir  sie  als  ihre  Nachkomlingen  verheissen  und  zuge- 
sagt  /  ja  ihnen  von  der  Zeit  an  durch  den  Glauben  als  eygen 
gegeben  und  geschoncke  ist  /  Wornach  alien  Frommen  Alt- 
vatteren  hat  verlanget  /  welchen  diese  verheissungen  zum 
offtern  ist  ernewert  /  die  darnach  geforschet  /  und  durch  den 
Glauben  von  feme  nach  ihm  aussgesehen  und  auff  die  Er- 
fiilling  gewartet  haben  /  dass  /  wenn  er  kommen  wiirde  /  er 
das  gefallene  Menschliche  Geschlechte  von  ihren  Siinden  / 
Schuldt  und  Ungerechtigkeit  wiederumb  erlosen  /  frey  ma- 
chen  /  und  auffhelffen  sollte."  Joh.  1.  vers.  29.  I.  Petri  1.  vers. 
19.  Gen.  3.  vers.  15.  I  Joh.  3.  vers.  8.  1  Joh.  2.  vers.  1.  Hebr. 
11.  V.  19.  39.  Gal.  4.  v.  4.  (Christliche  Glaubens-Bekentnus, 
T.  T.  V.  S.,  pp.  5-6.) 


APPENDIX  V 

"Articul  IV.  Von  der  Zukunfft  unsers  Erlosers  und  Selig- 
machers  Jesu  Christi. 

SO  glauben  und  bekennen  wir  ferner  /  dass  /  als  diese 
Zeit  der  Verheissung  /  nach  welcher  alle  fromme  Alt-Vatter 
so  sehr  verlanget  und  darauff  gewartet  haben  /  umb  /  und 
erfiillet  war  /  dass  damals  dieser  verheissene  Messias  /  Er- 
loser  und  Seligmacher  von  Gott  aussgange  /  gesandt  und 
(nach  der  Weissagung  der  Propheten  und  Gezeugnisse  der 
Evangelisten)  in  die  Welt  /  ja  ins  Fleisch  kommen  /  geoffen- 
bahret  und  das  Wort  selbst  Fleisch  und  Mensch  worden  ist  / 
und  dass  er  in  der  Jungfrawen  Maria  (die  verlobet  war  mit 
einem  Manne  /  genant  Joseph  vom  Hause  Davids)  ist  emp- 


APPENDIX  179 

fangen  /  und  class  sie  denselben  /  als  ihren  Erst-geboren 
Sohn  /  zii  Bethlehem  gebohren  /  in  windelen  gewickelt  /  und 
in  eine  Krippen  gelegt  hat.  (Joh.  4.  vers.  25.  Joh.  16.  vers. 
28.  1  Tim.  3.  vers.  16.  Joh.  1.  vers.  14.  Matth.  1.  vers.  22. 
Luc.  2.  vers.  7.  21.) 

Wir  bekennen  und  glauben  auch  /  dass  dieser  derselbige 
ist  /  dessen  Auszgang  von  Anfang  und  von  Ewigkeit  gewesen 
ist  /  ohn  anfang  der  Tagen  /  oder  Ende  des  Lebens:  Der 
selber  das  A,  und  O,  Anfang  und  Ende  /  der  Erste  und  der 
Letzte  bezeuget  wird  zu  seyn:  Dass  dieser  auch  derselbe  ist 
und  kein  ander  /  der  auszersehen  /  verheissen  /  gesandt  und 
in  die  Welt  kommen  /  und  der  Gottes  eyniger  /  erster  und 
einiger  Sohn  /  der  vor  Johannes  dem  Taufifer  /  vor  Abraham  / 
ja  Davids  HERR  und  aller  Welt  Gott  ist  /  der  Erst-gebohrne 
vor  alien  Creaturen  /  der  in  die  Welt  gebracht  /  und  ihm  ein 
Leib  bereitet  ist  /  welchen  er  selber  zu  einem  Opflfer  und 
Gabe  iibergeben  hat  /  Gott  zu  einem  siissen  Geruch  /  ja  zu 
Trost  /  Erlosung  und  Seligkeit  fiir  alle  /  und  fiir  das  gantze 
Menschliche  Geschlecht.  (Mich.  5.  vers.  2.  Hebr.  7.  vers.  3. 
Apoc.  1.  vers.  8.  18.  Joh.  3.  vers.  16.  Hebr.  1.  vers.  6.  Rom.  8. 
vers.  32.    Matt.  22.  vers.  41.    Col.  1.  vers.  15.   Aebr.  10.  vers.  5.) 

Was  aber  anlanget  /  wie  und  aufif  was  Weise  dieser 
wiirdiger  Leib  bereitet  /  und  wie  das  Wort  Fleisch  /  und  er 
selbst  Mensch  geworden  ist  /  darinn  sind  wir  verniiget  mit 
der  erklarung  welche  die  heilige  Evangelisten  in  ihrer  be- 
schreibung  davon  gethan  und  nachgelassen  haben  /  nach 
welcher  wir  sampt  alien  Heiligen  ihn  bekennen  und  halten 
fiir  den  Sohn  des  Lebendigen  Gottes  /  in  welchem  all  unsere 
Hofifnung  /  Trost  /  Erlosung  und  Seligkeit  besteht  /  und  dass 
wir  dieselbe  auch  in  niemanden  anders  miigen  noch  sollen 
suchen.  (Luc.  1.  vers.  31.  o2.  ^3.  Joh.  20.  v.  30.  31.  Matt.  16. 
vers.  16.) 

Weiter  glauben  und  bekennen  wir  mit  der  Schrift  /  nach 
dem  er  hier  seinen  Lauflf  vollendet  /  und  das  Werck  /  darumb 
er  gesandt  und  in  die  Welt  kommen  war  /  volbracht  hatte  / 
dass  er  nach  Gottes  Fiirsehung  ist  iiberantwortet  in  die 
hande  der  Ungerechten  /  und  dass  er  unter  dem  Richter 
Pontio  Pilato  gelitten  hat  /  dass  er  gekreuziget  /  gestorben  / 


180        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

begraben  /  am  dritten  Tage  vom  Tode  wiederaufferstanden 
und  gen  Himmel  gefahren  ist  /  und  dass  er  sitzt  zur  rechten 
Handt  Gottes  der  Majestat  in  der  Hohe  /  von  dannen  er 
kommen  wird  zu  richten  die  Lebendigen  und  die  Todten. 
(Luc.  23.  vers.  53.  Luc.  23.  vers.  I.  Luc.  24.  vers.  5.  6.  Luc. 
24.  vers.  5L) 

Und  dass  also  der  Sohne  Gottes  gestorben  ist  /  fiir  alle 
den  Todt  geschmecket  /  und  seyn  theurbar  Blut  vergossen 
hat  /  und  dass  er  dadurch  der  Schlangen  den  Kopff  zertre- 
teh  /  die  Wercke  des  Teufels  zerstohret  /  die  Handschrifft  zu 
nicht  gemacht  /  und  vergebung  der  Siinden  fiir  das  gantze 
Menschliche  Geschlecht  erworben  hat  /  und  dass  er  also  ein 
uhrsach  der  ewigen  Seligkeit  geworden  ist  fiir  alle  die  jenigen 
(von  Adam  an  bis  an  der  Welt  ende)  deren  ein  jeder  in  seiner 
Zeit  an  ihn  glauben  und  gehorsam  seyn  wird.  (Gen.  3.  vers. 
15.  1  Joh.  3.  vers.  8.  Coloss.  2.  vers.  14.  Rom.  5.  vers.  18.) 
(Christliche  Glaubens-Bekentnus,  T.  T.  V.  S.  pp.  6-9.) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  search  for  the  literature  necessary  for  this  under- 
taking has  been  a  valuable  experience  for  the  writer.  He 
found  little  literature  bearing  directly  upon  his  subject,  but 
much  which  was  very  suggestive,  sometimes  tantalizingly  so, 
especially  when  there  was  just  enough  suggestion  to  make 
one  feel  quite  sure  that  he  was  on  the  track  of  important 
facts,  but  not  enough  to  make  one  feel  warranted  in  deciding 
definitely  as  to  which  way  the  facts  would  effect  the  conclu- 
sions. 

The  writer  gratefully  acknowledges  the  valuable  assist- 
ance rendered  him  in  his  search  by  Drs.  MacKenzie,  Jacobus 
and  Geer  of  Hartford  Theological  Seminary,  who  offered 
very  helpful  suggestions  in  personal  conferences;  by  Rev.  N. 
B.  Grubb  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  who  so  kindly  offered  the 
writer  the  use  of  his  rare  and  valuable  collection  of  Anabap- 
tist and  Mennonite  literature;  by  Rev.  S.  M.  Grubb,  the 
fruits  of  whose  research  work  in  the  library  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania German  Society  were  so  kindly  ofiFered  to  the  writer; 
by  Rev.  C.  van  der  Smissen,  who  offered  many  valuable 
suggestions  as  to  literature;  by  the  various  members  of  the 
staff  of  librarians  in  Hartford  Theological  Seminary,  and  by 
a  host  of  friends  who  so  kindly  and  patiently  answered  letters 
and  rendered  other  valuable   services. 

The  writer  has  not  listed  all  of  the  literature  examined 
in  order  to  find  material  because  some  of  it  imparted  no 
usable  information  and  some  of  it  contained  nothing  valuable 
beyond  the  quotations  taken  from  such  works  which  were 
used.  The  suggestions  sometimes  came  from  such  books  as 
have  not  been  listed  and  thus  helped  the  writer  in  finding  the 
original. 

The  writer  also  owes  much  to  the  valuable  suggestions 


182        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

which  he  received  from  courses  taken  under  Drs.  MacKenzie 
and  Geer,  especially  those  in  Dogmatics,  Christology,  Atone- 
ment and  the  Reformation  Period. 

A  LIST  OF  LITERATURE  USED 

Anweisung    zu    der    wahren    Gottseligkeit,    Lehr-    und 
Lebens-Uebung.      (A   very   old   book   from   which   the 
title  page  is  gone.) 
Arnolds,  Gottfried,  Kurzgefasste  Kirchen-Historie  des  Alten 
und  Neuen  Testaments. 

Arnoldi,  Gottfried,  Wahre  Abbildung  der  Ersten  Christen  im 
Glauben  und  Leben. 

Bartsch,  J.,  Geschichte  der  Gemeinde  Jesus  Christus,  das 
heisst:  der  Altevangelischen  und  Mennoniten-Gemein- 
den,  von  der  Zeit  der  Apostel  bis  in  die  Gegenwart, 
p.  207.    Mennonite  Publishing  Co.,  Elkhart,  Ind. 

Bax,  E.  Belfort,    German  Society  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
The  Peasants  War. 
Rise   and   Fall   of  the   Anabaptists. 

Bericht  von  der  ersten  All-Mennoniten-Konvention  in 
Nord-Amerika,  enthaltend  das  Protokoll  und  alle 
Referate. 

Bosworth,  Edward  I.,  The  Teaching  of  Jesus  and  His  Apos- 
tles. 

Braght,  Thielem  J.  v.,  Der  blutige  Schauplatz,  oder  Martyrer- 
Spiegel  der  Tauf-Gesinnten  oder  Wehrlosen  Christen, 
die  um  des  Zeugnisses  Jesu,  ihres  Seligmachers,  willen 
gelitten  haben  und  getotet  worden  sind  von  Christi  Zeit 
an  bis  auf  das  Jahr  1660.  Enthaltend  nebst  ihrer  Ge- 
schichte die  Reden,  Briefe  und  Bekenntnisse  der  seli- 
gen  Alartyrer,  sowie  auch  die  Geschichte  der  christli- 
chen  Taufe,  von  der  Apostel  Zeit  an  bis  auf  das  Jahr 
1600.  Published  by  Shem  Zook,  near  Lewiston,  Mifflin 
Co.,   Pa. 

Brons,  A.,  Ursprung,  Entwickelung  und  Schicksale  der  alt- 
evangelischen Taufgesinnten  oder  Mennoniten.  Zweite 
Auflage,  1891. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  183 

Brown,  J.  Newton,    The  Life  and  Times  of  Menno. 

Bundesbote-Kalender,  Complete  file  from  1887  to  1915. 

Cassel,  Daniel  K.,  Geschichte  der  Mennoniten  von  Menno 
Simon's  Austritt  aus  der  romisch-katholischen  Kirche 
in  1536  bis  zu  deren  Auswanderung  nach  Amerika  in 
1683. 

Copies    of    the    different    catechisms    published    in    the 
United   States   and   Germany   by   different   divisions   of 
the  Mennonites. 
Files  of  "Der  Christliche   Bundesbote." 

T.  T.  V.  S.,  Christliche  Glaiibens-Bekentnus.  Der  waffen- 
losen  und  fiirnehmlich  in  den  Niederlandern  (unter 
dem  nahmen  der  Mennonisten)  wohlbekanten  Chri- 
sten; Wie  auch  Etliche  Christliche  Gebahte  eben  der- 
selben  Glaubens-bekenner;  Wobei  gefiigt  sieben  geist- 
liche  Lob  und  andere  Gesange  aus  einer  anzahl  von  400 
eines  Gottseeligen  Lehrers  selbiger  Bekentnus  gezogen 
und  zur  Probe  anher  gestellet;  Als  auch  noch  ein  An- 
hang  zum  unwidersprechlichen  beweise  dass  gemelte 
Glaubens-bekenner  sich  im  Leben  und  lehren  viel  an- 
ders  befinden,  als  man  bis  anher  durch  unkunde  von 
ihnen  urteilen  wollen.    1664. 

Cornelis,  C.  A.,  Geschichte  des  Miinsterischen  Aufruhrs,  er- 
stes  und  zweites  Buch. 

Cramer,  A.  M.,  Het  Leven  en  de  Verrigtingen  van  Menno 
Simons,  voorafgegaan  dooveene  Inleidende  Verhande- 
ling  over  den  Corsprong  en  de  Opkomst  der  Doopsge- 
zinden,  voornamelijk  in  de  Nederlanden,  pp.  vi,  206. 
Amsterdam,  bij  Johannes  Mueller.    1837. 

Denck,  Hans,  Von  der  wahren  Liebe.  This  volume  also 
contains  Auslegung  des  Vaterunser,  by  Hans  Langen- 
mantel. 

Corpus  Schwenkfeldianorum.  Published  under  auspices 
of  the  Schwenkfelder  Church,  Pennsylvania  and  of 
Hartford  Theological  Seminary,  Connecticut,  U.  S.  A. 

Denny,  James,    Jesus  and  the  Gospel. 


184        CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

Egli,  Emil,   Die  Ziiricher  Wiedertaufer  zur  Reformationszeit. 

Nach  den  Quellen  des  Staatsarchivs.    1878. 

Die  St.  Galler  Tauffer.    1887. 
Ellenberger,  J.,    Bilder  aus  dem   Pilgerleben.    Gesammelt  in 

der   Mennoniten-Gemeinde.    Vol.    I.      Selbstverlag   des 

Verfassers.    1878. 
Encyclopedia — Articles  bearing  on  various  phases  of  the  sub- 
ject,  especially   those    found   in   the   following   works: 

Encyclopedia  of  Religion  and  Ethics. 

Ersch  and  Gruber  Encyclopedia. 

The    New    Schaflf-Herzog    Encyclopedia    of    Religious 

Knowledge. 

The   New   International   Encyclopedia. 

Cyclopedia  of   Biblical,   Theological  and   Ecclesiastical 

Literature.    McClintock   and   Strong. 

Realencyclopadie    fiir    protestantische    Theologie    und 

Kirche. 

Herzog-Real-Encyklopadie    fiir    protestantische    Theo- 
logie.   1862. 

Herzog  und   Plitt,   Real-Encyklopadie   fiir  protestanti- 
sche Theologie  und  Kirche.    1886. 
Erbkam,  H.  W..    Geschichte  der  protestantischen  Sekten  im 

Zeitalter  der   Reformation.    1848. 

Evans,  John  LL.D.,  A  Sketch  of  the  Denominations  of 
the  Christian  World.    1832. 

Fairbairn,  Andrew  M.,  The  Philosophy  of  the  Christian 
Religion. 

Hase,  Karl,    Reich   der  Wiedertaufer. 

Hast,  J.,  Geschichte  der  Wiedertaufer  von  ihrem  Entstehen 
zu  Zuricken  in  Sachsen  bis  auf  ihren  Sturz  zu  Miinster 
in  Westphalen,  p.  408. 

Hege,  C,    Die  Taufer  in  der  Kurpfalz.    1908. 

Kurzgefasste  Geschichte  der  Mennoniten. 
Horsch,    J.,     Kurzgefasste    Geschichte    der    Mennoniten-Ge- 

meinden.      Nebst    einem    Abriss    der    Grundsatze    und 

Lehren,    sowie    einem    Verzeichnis    der    Literatur    der 

Taufgesinnten. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  185 

Hulshof,  A.,  Geschiednis  van  de  Doopsgezinden  de  Staats- 
burg  van  1525-1557. 

Hunzinger,  Abraham,  Religions-,  Kirchen-  und  Schulwesen 
der  Mennoniten  oder  Taufgesinnten.    1862. 

Forrest,  D.  W.,    The  Christ  of  History  and  of  Experience. 

Forsyth,   The  Person  and  Place  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Francken,  Sebastian,    Germanic  Chronicon. 

Jehring,  Joachim,  Griindliche  Historic  von  denen  Begeben- 
heiten,  Streitigkeiten  und  Trennungen,  so  unter  den 
Taufgesinnten  oder  Mennonisten  usw. 

Jones,   Rufus   M.,    M.A.,  D.Litt.,   Spiritual   Reformers  in   the 
16th  and  17th  Centuries.     1914. 
Studies  in  Mystical  Religion.    1909. 

Kadelbach,  Oswald,    Schwenkfeld  und  die  Schwenkfelder. 

Kautsky,   Karl,    Communism  in   Central  Europe  in  the  time 

of  the  Reformation. 
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Geschichte  der  Wiedertaufer. 

Kerssenbroick,  Hermann  von,  Geschichte  der  Wiedertaufer 
zu  Miinster  in  Westphalen.    1771. 

Krehbiel,  H.  P.,  History  of  the  Mennonite  General  Confer- 
ence. 

Lamprecht,  Karl,    Deutsche  Geschichte. 

Langenmant-el,  Hans,  Auslegung  des  Vaterunser.  (This  vol- 
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Lindsey,  Thomas  M.,  A  History  of  the  Reformation.  The 
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A  History  of  the   Reformation.     The   Reformation   in 
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Luther  and  the  German  Reformation. 

Loserth,  Johann,    Doctor   Balthasar   Hubmaier  und   die  An- 

fange  der  Wiedertaufe  in  Mahren. 
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186         CHRIST'S  HEADSHIP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

Files  of  The  Mennonite,  published  at  Berne,  Ind. 
Complete  file  of  the  Mennonite  Year  Books,  1895-1915. 
Forms   of  Service  and  Handbooks  for  Ministers,  pub- 
lished by  Mennonites. 

Moeller,  Wilh.,  Kirchengeschichte.  Das  Mittelalter.  Vol.  11. 
Kirchengeschichte.  Reformation  und  Gegenreforma- 
tion.    Vol.  III. 

Monatsblatter  der  Mennoniten-Gemeinde  Crefeld,  Ger- 
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Mueller,  Ernst,  Geschichte  der  Bernischen  Wiedertaufer. 
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Nefif,  Christian  (und  Christian  Hege),  Mennonitisches  Lexi- 
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Pro  Copia  Instrumentum  Publicum  concerning  that  which 
was  considered  in  facti,  by  the  Lord  Commissioners 
of  the  Palatine  Electoral  Prince  in  reference  to  the 
Protestant  Mennonites  at  Reijdt  in  the  year  1694,  and 
what  transpired. 

Ris,  Cornelis.  Die  Glaubens-Lehre  der  wahren  Mennoniten 
oder  Tauf-Gesinnten  aus  deren  offentlichen  Glaubens- 
bekenntnissen.  (Later  editions  of  this  work  may  be 
found  in  "Geschichte  und  Glaubenslehre  der  Taufge- 
sinnten  oder  Mennoniten"  by  van  der  Smissen,  and 
"Mennonite  Articles  of  Faith",  published  by  the  Men- 
nonite Book  Concern,  Berne,  Ind.     1904. 

Roehrich,  Timoth.  Wilh.,  Zur  Geschichte  der  strassburgi- 
schen  Wiedertaufer  in  den  Jahren  1527  bis  1543. 

Roosen,  B.  C,  Geschichte  der  Mennoniten-Gemeinde  zu 
Hamburg  und  Altera.  Erste  Halfte.  Hamburg  1886. 
Zwei  Predigten.  Die  erste  gehalten  am  13.  Januar 
1861,  als  am  300jahrigen  Todestage  Menno  Simonis', 
die  andere  gehalten  am  20.  Januar  1861. 

Rues,    Simon    Fr.,     Gegenwartiger    Zustand    der    Mennoniten 

usw, 

Simon.  Menno.  The  Complete  Works  of  Menno  Simon,  trans- 
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The    Mennonites   of   America. 

Taffin,  Johann,    Kurtzer    Unterricht    wider    die    Irrtumb    der 

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Fri€sland.     1839. 
Vedder,  Henry  C,    Balthasar  Hubmaier. 

Short  History  of  the  Baptists. 
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Meditationen   zu   den    Fragen   und   Antworten   unseres 

Katechismus. 

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Wolkan,  Dr.  Rudolf,    Die  Lieder  der  Wiedertaufer. 

Zezschwitz,  Gerhard  von.  Die  Katechismen  der  Waldenser 
und  Bohmischen  Briider.    1863, 


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